


never doubt my love

by Alx_GG



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Discussion of Abortion, Kid Fic, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2019-11-08 10:25:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17979560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alx_GG/pseuds/Alx_GG
Summary: ABO verse!Adam finds out he's pregnant after the Kerberos launch, now he finds himself with a rough pregnancy ahead without his mateWith a bond that let's him know when Shiro feels pain, a pregnancy and soon a child, Adam will need to rely on his love to hold on





	1. Don't feel so well

**Author's Note:**

> Special special thanks to HereComeDatBoi for helping me bring this story to life

_“Takashi” Adam harshly set his cup down “How important am I to you?"_

The answer wasn’t a surprise for Adam, Takashi rather be with the stars than with him, with the little family they formed with Keith, they vowed to be together, a couple, a team, he had ultimately relented, Shiro was right, he didn’t have the luxury of waiting for old age to retire, his body wouldn’t let him and he truly looked crushed at Adam’s rejection, he was willing to go to that mission with his spirit broken, he made his peace with Shiro leaving with the same one he had when he learned of his disease, he loved Takashi Shirogane and he loved him back, they made a promise of no more missions after Kerberos, they would spend the rest of their days finally alone, the ugly voice in his head told him Shiro had accepted since he knew he wouldn’t be physically able, not because of his desire of a life with Adam but Adam chose not to hear it.

It had barely been a week since Shiro left and Adam found himself looking at the stars every night before sighting and making supper for him and Keith, today he had opted for something easy to cook, he had felt more tired than usual which he didn’t know why, he had the same schedule, did losing Shiro really left him that bad? No, he hadn’t lost Shiro, he was just away, for an entire year, his train of thought stopped when he got a notification on his phone.

Pick Up Phil.

It was his reminder to buy birth control pills, the name was Matt’s idea, Adam gave a light gasp, he had planned on taking suppressants to avoid his heat, spending a heat without someone to help out was uncomfortable but for him, who has spent his last 10 heats along Shiro would be awful, he was mated, his body would demand Shiro and it will be specially awful when it realizes Shiro is not here, there was no point for the contraceptive pill and suppressants needed at the latest two weeks before a heat for it to work without causing hormonal imbalance and with his heat just a week away, Adam had condemned himself to a miserable heat, the only good side was that it was better recommended to start suppressants after a natural heat to avoid any secondary effects, maybe his coming heat was why he’d been feeling so fatigued.

\- 1 week later -

Adam looked at the clock on the wall and then looked down on himself, he brought his forearm to scent himself but he felt nor smelt different, he expected his heat to start on the weekend but it was monday already, if he didn’t have a heat then he better go to work.

“Keith, does my scent smell different to you?” Adam asked to Keith who was on the kitchen bar table having breakfast, Adam got closer and extended his arm to Keith who scented the air near it.

“The same stink as usual, Adam,” Keith said dryly.

“Little brat, finish your breakfast and get out of here,” Adam said, making Keith chuckle.

Adam had other issues, he was late, he hoped his heat would by far hit today and he could call and ask for his heat leave but nothing, he felt nothing and he smelled nothing so he carried on with his day, his heat better not hit in class, it started with just a light change of scent and some discomfort but still, not the best place to happen, Adam’s heats began at night like any other, he only had irregular timings at the very beginning but afterwards he’s been pretty normal, he paid not attention to it and carried on, Adam had work to do and students to teach yet still he got worried everyday his heat wouldn’t come, he had a planned visit for dinner with the Holts on the weekend so he waited.

-

They arrived at the Holts place, Keith and Katie had the same pained expression, they didn’t like small talk and were just waiting for their respective parents permission so they could go play video games, Colleen had asked to meet soon since Katie’s had a hard time not having her brother around so she organized a playdate disguised as dinner since they both knew their young children hated the idea of being called kids, so they thought it was a usual obligatory adult reunion but the real reunion was for them to have some fun together, they finally let their kids go and they ran before they could even finish their sentence, once they were out of sight Adam helped Colleen clean up.

“There is no need Adam, you are the guest,” Colleen said.

“Nope, this is not really a dinner and we are both in this so I’ll help, let me do the coffee at least,” Adam insisted.

“Only because I know you do great coffee,” Colleen pointedly said.

Adam went to the Holt’s coffee machine and went to work, they did small talk as they did their tasks, Colleen mentioned something about her plants properties which included soothing post heath symptoms like cramps and Adam suddenly remembered his predicament.

“Is there any plant that can provoke a heat?” Adam asked.

“Well, some can certainly enhance it but it’s not like catnip” Colleen answered.

Adam hummed before he said “I’m a little worried, my heat is late,”

“How long?” Colleen inquired.

“Right now, already a week,” Adam said.

Colleen stayed silent for a moment before she looked at Adam.

“Have you been tired lately? Nausea or vomit? Mood swings?” Colleen questioned.

“Well Keith is always complaining I have eternal mood swings but” Adam stopped on his tracks “Wait, you think,” he paused “You are not saying, I’m pregnant, right?” Adam cautiously said.

“It could be,” Colleen shrugged her shoulders.

“No it can’t be, Colleen, Shiro left three weeks ago, my heat was supposed to hit a week ago, so last time I was with Shiro I was nowhere near my heat, so no, no way,” Adam shook his head.

“Adam, a heat can come early if the omega in question feels stressed to lose their mate, I started suppressants since Sam was notified of the mission,” Colleen softy explained to a shocked Adam.

“So you mean, I could-” Adam stuttered and covered his mouth with his hand.

“I thought you were on suppressants, Matt said you used the pill,” Colleen said with confusion on her voice.

“I use the contraceptive pills not the suppressant one but even if it did came early I felt nothing, I feel nothing, it has to be something else because I am not pregnant,” Adam stated.

“Well my dear, if you are sure it’s not pregnancy maybe you just have a hormone imbalance due to stress, I know you worried a lot for Shiro,” Colleen said.

“Yes, that is probably it,” Adam said a little too harshly.

“Then it’s best you go get checked, it’s better to find problems early before they become too big, otherwise you might lose your chance to get pregnant later,” Colleen offhandedly said and watched as Adam looked at the floor with a worried frown on his face.


	2. What do I do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam thinks of his situation

_Oh my God!” Matt screeched as he pulled something out of Adam’s bag “Are these what I think it is?!”_

_A blushing Adam snatched the birth control pills from his hands “Yes, we are a mated couple, why is this so shocking?”_

_“Birth control or suppressants?” Matt asked while he waggled his eyebrows, the couple blushed at the same time._

_“Oh my God! All the fun but none of the after, I like it!” Matt crackled._

_“Matt, shut up,” Adam said._

_“I feel so proud of you my children, glad to see you guys taking care of yourselves, otherwise instead of the pill you’ll have to pick up…. Phil! Yes! Did you get it?”_

_“Yes Matt, you are a master of language and wittiness” Shiro tiredly said while Matt kept laughing in the background._

_Adam smiled at his friends antics before he turned to Shiro and said “Phil hu? I don’t even want to think about it, we can barely take care of ourselves, much less a kid,”_

_Shiro gave a sad smile and weakly said “With the time I have, I don’t think I could,”_

_That caught Adam’s attention and quizzically looked back at Shiro, he wanted to ask more but held back and just chuckled._

_“We are much too young anyway” Adam joked and they all left for class_

They’ve been so young and so stupid, Adam thought, he was home on his day off, he was glad since there were so many thoughts on his head as the memory of three positive tests still wrangled his mind.

They’ve never talked about it, about kids, that is the only memory Adam could remember were the subject had come up, they were both 20 years old and that was probably the first time Adam considered they may have rushed their mating, they knew everything there was to know about their past, Shiro opened up to him to being an orphan, always alone and with no one who cared for him, Adam told him about his cold and distant family, the moment he showed interest in the Garrison program and it’s in campus housing he had a suitcase in one hand and a plane ticket on the other, both of them had craved a family, companionship and when they met at the tender age of 15 they hit it off immediately and opened up to each other in ways they’ve never been able before but while they knew of each other’s past, they never talked their future.

Stupid, in love and with no real supervision, they fell into the trap that was thinking that their love would overcome every obstacle they could find, that they could be a family, then Shiro was diagnosed and given an estimated life span, that tipped them over the edge and on Adam’s first heat at the age of 18 found them sneaking out of the Garrison and promising each other a forever with a bite to their necks.

Everyone was shocked when they returned, Sanda chew them a new one and everyone commented on how they had ruined their lives but he and Shiro resisted all with intertwined hands and a love they knew could take on the world

He remembered his trip to the pharmacy, he had considered buying some pills, a different kind of pills he never bought before, those would help him get out of his current predicament, he just couldn’t, a knock on his door brought Adam back from his thoughts, he went to open the door and found Colleen outside.

“Hey Colleen, is there anything you need?” Adam moved to let her inside

“Hi Adam, no I came here for you, see how you’ve been, did you got yourself checked?” Colleen asked.

“Yes I did” Adam didn’t elaborate further, Colleen just nodded

“Were my suspicions true then?” She sat at the dinner table

“Can you have three fake positive test in a row?” Adam dejectedly said as he too sat down

“Three in a row?!” Colleen said “So, seeing in the state you are in, you have yet to decide what to do” She said and Adam nodded, she waited patiently for Adam to elaborate

“We never talked kids, why would we? We were just 18 when we mated and I’m almost sure Shiro doesn’t want any” He said and slumped on his seat

“What makes you think that?” Colleen asked

“He mentioned once the time he has left, I think he doesn’t want to have any if it means leaving them parentless, just like he was” He answered

“But they won’t be left alone, they’ll have you”

“Leaving the responsibility to me alone? He would never want that”

“Well from the sound of it, you have a clear path but you have yet to tell me what you want” Colleen said

Adam looked around and saw Keith’s red jacket, he looked to the kitchen and there was Keith’s favorite red vase right next to Shiro’s coffee cup he loved, after six years of a successful and a stable mated relationship, the Garrison had no problems on allowing Keith to move in with them, they were in the process of formally adopting him and they had lived for the last year as a blissfully happy family because that is what the three of them had become, a family.

“I want to keep it” Adam absent-mindedly said before he straighten up “I want to have a baby, I want to have a family with Shiro but I know he won’t want one! And this is really the worse of times, a pregnancy without the alpha can get risky and he’s going to be away for a full year! Even if he agreed to have a family with me, wouldn’t it be better if we waited for him to return? I don’t want to force him to not be here while I’m pregnant and besides the baby will arrive earlier than him and what am I going to do? I don’t know anything about children ” Adam was near panting when he finished

“Adam” Colleen extended her hands palms up and Adam reached for her “Shiro loves you and I can’t tell you what he’ll say but this weekend it’s our first video chat since they left”

“So soon?”

“They left a month ago, dear”

“Oh, time does fly fast, wait, that means that at least I’m, I’m,”

“A month in, probably but what I’m trying to say is, stop worrying, you’ll talk to Shiro and you’ll both come to a decision but, whichever way you chose to follow I want you to know that you’ll have all my support, if you wish to end this here or follow through I’ll always be here for you and don’t worry over Shiro being gone, pregnancies without the alpha can be risky without constant medical attention but you have the best technologies here and afterwards I’ll be here from you, now and to the moment Shiro lands back and even more” Colleen said and gave a squeeze to Adam’s hands

“You’ll really do that?” Adam hopefully said

“Of course my dear!” Colleen stood up and hugged Adam tightly, he return the embrace just as much.

 


	3. Some news

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam talks to Shiro

Keith, Katie and Colleen were all on Sam’s office to have their first video chat with the crew of the Kerberos mission, Colleen noticed how Keith had come alone.

“Where is Adam?” She asked.

“He said he’ll come here later but he wasn’t doing anything, he’s being wierd all week and now he doesn’t come see Shiro? Aren’t they supposedly mated?” Keith said clearly irritated at Adam’s easy dismissal of Shiro’s first call but Colleen knew perfectly well why he was nervous.

They all gathered in the chairs in front of the camera and waited for the crew to call, after a few minutes the screen showed an in coming call and Colleen accepted it.

“Hello!” Sam said

“Hey kids!” Matt excitedly waved

Shiro waved with a smile at the camera, he clearly searched every face and his smile wavered when he realized someone was missing.

“Hi!” Keith and Katie excitedly said.

“How’s space?!” Keith asked with enthusiasm.

Both families animatedly talked on the shenanigans they’ve been up to, Colleen often would look towards the entrance and when she looked back he could see Shiro was also continuously looking at the edge to maybe spot a certain someone, their scheduled time was almost up and she gave a last look to the door to see Adam nervously biting his thumb nail by the door.

“Adam, you finally joined us!” She said, making Adam flinch, on the screen Shiro perked up at the name.

“You’re finally here!” Keith said still annoyed at Shiro’s mate.

Adam slowly walked towards them and finally showed his face on-screen.

“Hi,” He said to them weakly, his eyes didn’t immediatly go to the one he needed but eventually they did and found Shiro with the happiest of smiles at finally seeing him.

“Hey Adam” Shiro said in a soothing voice, he had yet to know why Adam had arrived so late and looked so uneasy, Adam had quickly diverted his eyes the moment they connected with Shiro’s.

“Hi, Takashi,” He responded “H-how’s space going?”

“They showed us some moon photos!” Katie said and pulled out her phone to show him.

“Oh, they look great,” Adam said while looking at her phone.

They did a quick recap to Adam when Colleen placed a hand on Keith and Katie’s shoulders.

“Well kids, time is almost up and you need to leave for class,” She said.

“Aw,” Both kids grumbled, on the screen the crew looked confused but a stern look of Colleen made them shut up.

“Say good-bye to them and leave now before you are late, I’ll close the call in a minute,” Colleen instructed and the kids did what they were told, once they kids were out, only the Kerberos crew, Colleen and Adam stayed.

“So what is this? We were notified you asked for a longer call,” Sam said.

Colleen went behind Adam and placed her hand on his shoulders “Adam needs to talk to Shiro on an important matter, it’s best if the kids are not around,”

That caught everyone’s attention and they turned to look at Shiro who was intently looking at Adam who in turn was just silently looking at the floor.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” Colleen said and went to leave the room, not before Adam thanked her and gave a quick squeeze to her hand.

“We’ll give you some privacy too,” Sam said and grabbed his son.

“Bye Adam,” The Holts waved and Adam waved them back with a smile.

After they left the screen, Shiro sat now in the middle of it “So, what is it you needed to talk to me about?” Shiro said.

Adam was quiet for a moment before he finally looked up to Shiro “I’m kind of in an unexpected situation,”

“Is it good or bad?” Shiro asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know, it was so sudden and I never thought” Adam stopped mid sentence.

“What is it Adam? Please, tell me,” Shiro softly pleaded to Adam.

He took a deep breath and decided to just get over it “I’m pregnant,”

Time stopped, both stared into each other’s eyes without making a move, Shiro was just coming to terms with what he heard while Adam’s mind and heart were moving at a thousand miles per hour despite his stiff outside demeanor, it took a few minutes before Shiro finally reacted.

“P-pregnant? But, but how? Are you sure? Wasn’t your heat soon?” Shiro asked confused.

“Colleen says when an omega feels stressed over the fact their mate might be going away, the heat can come early and since it’s objective was done due to our, um, activities, well it ended before it even really started,” Adam nervously explained to Shiro “I already got tested, they were all positive,”

Shiro stayed still with a dumbfounded expression and Adam saw how ever so slowly his eyes grew bigger and bigger as his mouth fell right open in clear shock.

“YOU’RE PREGNANT!” Shiro screeched.

“Shhh!” Adam shushed his mate and got closer to the screen, he was absolutely sure Sam and Matt had heard, the ship was not even that big and while Sam wouldn’t eavesdrop he was sure Matt would.

“I’m barely an month in but it’s confirmed,” Adam said to a still panicking Shiro who had his hands messing his hair all over the place.

“But-! We-! How- and I’m here- it’s a year-are we even- and the risks-” Shiro was incoherently babbling.

“So we shouldn’t keep it,” Adam flatly said, Shiro stopped his babbling and his eyes went straight to Adam’s, despite his resolve, Shiro could clearly see some uneasiness in Adam’s eyes.

“What do you want?” Shiro asked, Adam looked away.

“It’s not just about me, we are mated, it’s both of us,” Adam replied.

“I don’t want to make you do something you don’t want to,” Shiro softly said

“Neither do I,” Adam looked up to him again.

The both stayed silent for a moment.

“Do you want this? Have kids with me?” Adam said with the smallest of voices.

“We already have one, don’t we?” Shiro smiled, Adam chuckled at the memory of Keith.

“You know what I mean” Adam said now more confidently.

“I know and I-, I’m, I don’t know what to think, for the most part I’ve focused on my career, you know this, I guess family life wasn’t in my forefront of thought and with Keith I never-, never really have put a thought to it” Shiro honestly said

“Are you upset?” Adam cautiously asked

“Honestly, no I’m not, I actually-, I actually feel happier than I thought I would, I never thought of babies but now, I don’t know, I just feel happy, I feel happy is with you” Shiro tenderly said, he blushed and scratched the back of his head “I mean, maybe it’s just the alpha side of me” Shiro sheepishly said “I sound so stupid, just to be proud you are pregnant with my kid, I mean what year are we?”

“I’m happy too,” Adam interrupted Shiro with a stupid smile of his own “I’m happy it’s yours, is why I mated you, didn’t I? To share a life with you,”

Shiro stopped talking to stupidly smile back as well

“I’m just worried about the risks” Shiro said

“I’m worried I’m forcing you to miss it” Adam replied back “We could try again once you are back,” he suggested.

“No my love, you look so happy, there is no way I’m making you-” Shiro didn’t want to finish that line “I just want to make sure this is something you want and that you will be safe,”

“I should be asking you that, we never talked kids and once you mentioned about your time,”

“Yeah, I won’t be able to see them grow and I don’t know if that would feel even worse once I have them in my arms but, I don’t want to not experience this with you, I never let my condition push me away from experiencing life and I won’t let it do it know, that is of course, if you agree”

“I have a bite on my neck, that should answer you enough, I said it at the time and I’ll say it again, I want to share a life with you, as much as I can” He tenderly said “And you don’t have to worry about me, Colleen said she’ll help me as much as she can and we have the best health technologies right here, I’ll be fine, I just regret you’ll miss this,” Adam said.

“Well we have regular calls so I won’t entirely miss it and besides, we could still try again once I come back,” Shiro said with a wink.

“Takashi!” Adam was flustered, making Shiro laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't do my hw for this, what is my life? nothing, Adashi has taken over it and I only regret it a minimum


	4. Our hearts beat for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam gets checked  
> I'm explaining some A/O/B concepts that will be mentioned in this chapter and on later ones

_What is a Bond?  
_

_ A Bond is more than a bite mark in the neck, it connects the bonded ones and makes them feel the other’s pressence even if they are away, the feeling of being mated is described as a subtle hum, it never stops until one perishes. Nothing else is felt through the Bond in everyday life, however strong physical or psychological sensations or emotions will be sent through, it’s funtion is a survival response to know when a mate is in danger, these are felt by the receptor at a lower degree, feelings of pain, panic or terror are easier to pass through but on some occasions positive feelings, such as happiness, can as well, however it’s needed an intense sense of elation for it to pass through(...) _

_J. Castile, The Dynamics of the Human Species, page 147_

\- Kerberos crew, a lot of miles away from Earth -

Shiro was anxiously waiting for the call, their families had requested that they would call the crew instead of the other way around like the first time, Shiro wanted to see Adam, know how his pregnancy was going, He should be around 10 weeks already.

He was sitting in front of the screen while Matt and Sam kept shuffling about and sent Shiro some sympathetic looks as he sadly kept waiting and staring at the screen.

Finally the screen showed an incoming call, he hastily accepted it but the screen was as black as ever, there was a strange shuffling sound that made Sam and Matt approach, the three stared confused at the screen when a soft beating sound was heard, Sam was the first to gasp and touched Shiro's shoulder, it took him a moment but he came to understand what he was hearing.

It was a heartbeat, his baby's heartbeat

Shiro let out a choked sob when the screen finally showed what was happening, there was everyone around Adam who had his abdomen exposed to an obstetrician, she had the ultrasound transducer against Adam's lower belly, so the sound was not a recording, it was live!

The obstetrician moved it before she stopped “There it is,” She said.

“I see nothing,” Keith squinted his eyes.

“That thing over there that looks like a peanut,” Katie pointed at the screen.

"Are you having a peanut?” Keith asked.

“We were all once peanuts Keith, we just need to grow that is all,” Adam said.

“Some stay peanuts like Pidge!” Matt said, calling her by the nickname they came up with, Katie stuck her toungue out while the families laughed at the siblings antics.

Shiro could only stare, here he was, a thousands miles away from earth yet still he was surrounded by those he thought of as family, his eyes were trained on Adam as he laughed and softly smiled at the screen were their baby was growing,  the pregnancy and his coming parenthood seemed to finally have settled into Shiro’s head and his chest felt tight as emotions ran through him, he didn’t think he could love Adam even more but he did.

Adam lightly perked up and his eyes went directly to Shiro’s, it was their bond,  the only time they had felt each other’s happiness was when they mated, Shiro’s eyes watered as he also felt Adam’s happiness in return, the moment only lasted shortly but just the fact alone that it happened was like magic to them.

He really wished he could cross the screen and kiss his mate either senseless or so soft they could melt against each other but he couldn’t, his mind went back to where he was, in a shuttle so far away from home and still the year left to go but they couldn’t go back now, not on their journey and neither with the pregnancy

Even in that moment, Shiro didn’t regret his decision, he was fulfilling his life long dream of reaching for the stars and he was making it, once back he’ll be received in the arms of his mate and their little bundle of joy, sure the timing wasn’t perfect but life never was and he’s come to accept it, that still didn’t take out the joy of seeing Adam so happy.

“Well, the baby looks healthy enough, good size, we just need to keep an eye on you,” The obstetrician said, bringing Shiro back to the situation.

Keith and Katie took the phone camera now that the doctor was going to talk to Adam about his pregnancy, they moved away so they could talk. The Holts and Keith animatedly talked and Shiro joined as much as he could but he would often look where he could see Adam’s blurry figure behind Keith and Katie’s head and wishing he could hear what the doctor was saying to him.

Time was nearly up but thankfully Adam’s appointment was also over, he got cleaned up, put his shirt correctly and approached the camera, they were all expecting what he’d say.

“Well it is as we suspected, I got a diet now and we’ll just keep tabs on my blood pressure, other than that, everything is perfectly fine” Adam said and Colleen patted his shoulder while the Kerberos crew told Adam to take care, after a few ‘I love yous’ were exchanged the call was over.

Adam and Keith arrived at their home after the call/appointment were Adam went to the fridge and placed a magnet on the diet the OB had given him, Keith approached the fridge.

“This is only for you right? I don’t have to follow it,” Keith pointed at the paper.

“Well, it is a pretty healthy diet so it wouldn’t be that bad,” Adam said and laughed at Keith’s stricken expression “Don’t worry, that is for pregnancies without the mate so it wouldn’t be the best for you, you are a growing boy and you need to eat,” Adam said and started to prepare food for them.

“I’m not a kid,” Keith complained.

“Well, not-kid, then maybe you should set the table since you are an adult now,” Adam said and Keith grumbled but started doing it.

“And also, I’m telling you what Dr. Castile said, even if you won’t go through this, you need to know,” Adam said as he started preparing the food.

“There is a reason mated pregnancies without a mate can get dangerous, we are at our most vulnerable when pregnant, when mated we essentially tell our bodies there is someone caring and protecting us, pregnancies while mated run smoother than when unmated.

However when the mate is not around the body interprets there is something out there that is making my mate not be here, a threat, so it prepares for the worst and sometimes, if it’s not checked, it can turn into something harmful for the baby and the mother without wanting to,” Adam said and then looked annoyed at the poor lettuce before he chopped it way to harshly.

“Part of those preparations include my body storing everything it can in a possible food shortage, so that means it’ll be even more difficult for me to get back in shape after the birth! How am I supposed to make people jealous if I don’t have my hot body?” Adam scoffed angrily.

“What hot body?” Keith said in disbelief “Shiro showed me your physicals and you barely passed”

“What?!” Adam screeched “That traitor! He’s sleeping on the couch the moment he gets back!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me if I didn't make myself clear  
> Also yes, being a teacher has made Adam let go a little :P


	5. Should I worry?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith worries  
> Curtis worries  
> Colleen worries  
> Adam should be worrying

Once they had finished their food, Keith started cleaning up while Adam got started with the dishes.

“Well, now the Garrison is more than notified of my current condition, I want to ask Colleen if it’s too soon to start preparing and what should I prepare for first?” Adam began “Either way, there is definitely going to be a lot of changes around here,”

Keith flinched at that word, change was usually never good for him, then an ugly thought came to his head as he turned and looked at Adam’s back.

Shiro and Adam, they were having a family, a real one, they were having a tiny baby with both their DNA, where did Keith fit? He was 16 years old, in only two years he’ll legally be an adult. He knew Adam and Shiro had begun his adoption process, he didn’t know he could feel such happiness as when they showed him the application but now, he was an intruder, an outsider to this forming family, they didn’t need a clingy older boy sticking around when they should focus on someone who really needed them.

Why would they want him, someone about to come of age, when they could have a brand new baby they could enjoy and watch grow? With hunched shoulders, Keith left the room.

“Get into the idea that you’ll help me with most of it, mister I’m-not-a-kid” Adam jokingly said and turned around, finding the dinning room empty “I swear this kid is like a cat, you feed him and he leaves” Adam grumbled just to himself and continued to finish the dishes.

Shiro’s next call was scheduled two weeks from now and Adam was already eager for it, usually early check ups were just once a month, however due to Shiro being gone and the risks it may imply, his doctor made an appointment for him in also two weeks time.

-

Keith entered their home only to find Adam drapped over the couch with a bunch of papers in the little table in front of him.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked.

“I’m making life, Keith, it’s not easy” Adam drawled.

“You are barely three months in, you’re just lazy” Keith dryly said and went straight to his room, he heard Adam’s indignant squawk but paid no attention to it, he needed to make some distance now, things were changing and he needed to be ready for it.

Adam saw Keith go without a word, usually he would look back at Adam with a chuckle when he was being a little shit and knew it but now he seemed moodier and just distant, he would have to talk to him about it but now he had things to do, he was right, he was being lazy.

He was told by Colleen he could hold on a few baby preparing things since it may be too early, he should focus instead on telling his class and organize his teaching schedule to the time he’ll have his maternity leave and he also had to focus on the coming exams week, students appeared everywhere asking for help and a few lost souls that thought asking Adam for mercy would work, it never did.

-

Adam was sitting on his classroom with paper all over the place, his students were long gone and he was grading the new batch of exams, he felt exhausted and a little hungry if he was honest, he had eaten a bagel on his way to class so he should be fine, what time it was again? No, he needed to focus, the sooner he was done the better, he heard a soft knock on the door.

“Come in,” He said without looking at the door.

“I was hoping against hope I wouldn’t find you here,” A voice Adam recognized said.

“Curt?” Adam turned to the door to find Curtis approaching him.

“I heard congratulations are in order!” Curtis said as he walked.

Adam was about to stand up when Curtis didn’t allow him when he leaned down to give Adam a hug.

“Congratulations,” He warmly said.

Adam return the hug tightly “Thank you,”

“When did you come back?” Adam asked when they separated.

“Just now really, went to leave by bag at home and came looking for you” Curtis said and pulled a chair to sit by Adam’s table, he then tried to give Adam a stern look but Curtis could never really manage it, even as an alpha, he looked cute and not menacing.

“Now, what are you doing here?” Curtis tried to admonish Adam but Adam just chuckled.

“I’m a teacher Curt, and its exams week so I’m grading all the papers” Adam said with smile.

“Keith?”

“Still in class,”

“Food?”

“Got lasagna waiting for me at home,”

“Last time you ate?”

Adam looked away and Curtis squinted his eyes at him, okay he was getting better at the admonishing part.

“I got a bagel on my way here before class,” Adam quietly said.

“Adam your class began nearly four hours ago and a bagel barely counts as a food break, you should be at home and why didn’t you asked for an assistant?”

“I’m pregnant, not invalid and its very early on, none of the other teachers have asked for help just because of this” Adam crossed his arms defensively.

“Your pregnancy is not like most and you know it, Martha asked for help when Jenny was away and so should you, the Garrison won’t deny you one but they won’t do anything unless you ask” Curtis admonished Adam who pouted at being called out.

“Fine I’ll finish at home, happy?” Adam kept pouting but he began to pick up his stuff.

“Very,” Curtis said and stood up, he patiently waited for Adam to finish.

“If I must tell you, I had already planned on leaving before you came here,” Adam said and Curtis nodded knowing Adam was just bluffing.

“I feel tired already, more than usual, I thought it was supposed to happen once I was the size of Jupiter not before,” Adam said and brought a hand to his head.

“Tired? Are you sure that is normal? Anything else? dizziness?” Curtis worriedly asked.

“Perhaps a little but it’s just me being hungry, I’ll eat the moment I get home,” Adam said and quickly stood up, his head started spinning and his vision got blurry.

“Adam!” Curtis was quick to stabilize him but soon Adam was nothing but dead weight against Curtis.

“Adam!” He shook him a little but got no response from him, panic began to grow on Curtis so he securely placed an arm on Adam’s back and bend to pick up his legs with his other hand, once he had him bridal style he rushed as quickly as he could to the med bay.

-

Keith’s class was over so he was ready to head back home, he saw Colleen outside.

“What happened?” Keith immediately asked.

“Nothing bad, I’m taking you home so you can eat” She said.

“No” He firmly said “What happened?”

Colleen let out a sigh “Adam is in the hospital, he fainted but he is alright!” She quickly said to a worried Keith “The doctors said he just got low blood pressure, its usual during early pregnancy but Adam seems to have been pushing himself a lot lately, he is stable now but the doctors want him to stay and check on him for a few days,”

“I want to see him” Keith sternly said.

Colleen wanted to put some food on him but she knew he cared deeply for Adam so she just steered him toward the med bay, Keith arrived and saw Adam sitting on a hospital bed talking to a worried looking Curtis.

“Adam!” Keith ran to his side.

“Hey kiddo” Adam gently said and ruffled Keith’s hair, for the first time he didn’t complain “Be polite and say hi to Curtis, he just arrived,”

“Hi Curtis,” Keith waved.

“Don’t worry, I know he is just worried about you” Curtis waved back “I’m glad you’re here, I brought you something from Korea, I know you’d like to go one day,” He said and pulled out a key chain with Korea’s space station logo.

“Thank you!” Keith snatched it way to excitedly.

“And I’m old news now? Couldn’t you give it to him later?” Adam asked.

Keith blushed at that “H-how long will you be here?” He asked back to the subject.

“Doctors said the best would be the day after tomorrow but if everything is fine, I could leave tomorrow by the afternoon” Adam said.

Everyone stayed silent as something laid heavily over their heads, tomorrow was Shiro’s call, could Adam be well enough for then?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter low spoiler  
> Shiro will worry


	6. Hospitals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's call  
> Adam is getting better  
> Keith has a family

Shiro was all but ready to start the call, he had listened to the audio of the heartbeat nonstop once Adam sent it to him and he already had the ultrasound picture right in front of his seat, today he knew Adam had another appointment and he was eager to get a brand new picture, the image came to life and Shiro saw the Holts, Keith and a new someone.

“Curtis! You’re back!” Shiro greeted him “How was Korea?”

Curtis waved back “It was amazing, I learned a lot of their processes,”

“I’m glad you had fun,” Shiro said but couldn’t help to search around for a certain someone.

“I know you want to see Adam,” Colleen said.

“He’s been smiling like a loon all this time!” Matt said.

Everyone on Earth looked nervously to each other, Shiro lost his smile.

“What happened?” He asked.

“I went to see him when I came back, it was exam week,” Curtis began, Shiro seemed to understand, Adam did tend to push himself on exam week but surely he had taken precautions now, didn’t he?

“And yes, he went in as usual,” Curtis said “He fainted but I took him quickly to the med bay, the doctor said he is completely fine, so is the baby but he has to stay until tomorrow,”

Shiro dropped his head on his hands, both Matt and Sam patted him on his shoulders for support.

“Can I see him?” Shiro softly said, those on Earth looked at each other.

“I don’t think it’s good for you to see him now and he is asleep, he told us to wake him up when you called but-”

“No,” Shiro interrupted Colleen “Don’t wake him up, he needs to rest but I, I need to see him, I have to see him, he is my mate!” Shiro firmly said.

Colleen sighed and took the phone with her, everyone else following behind her, the screen showed her worried face and then with a click she changed the camera. There was Adam, blissfully asleep on a pale white hospital bed, there was an IV on his hand, the beeping of the machine measuring his heart rate, and a bulge on his stomach that connected to another machine, this one measuring the tiny heartbeat of their baby.

Shiro’s heart sank at the sight, this shouldn’t be Adam, his mate was full of life and sunshine, seeing him in that hospital bed felt wrong, it was usually him , did Adam feel this way every time it was him?

“I asked if it was dangerous, he said he would be fine,” Shiro shakily said, Colleen switched the camera back to them.

“He is safe, my dear, he just pushed himself too much,” She reassured Shiro “But we are all here for him, he is never alone, Curtis was there and he was taken immediately here and Keith is always at home to take care of him,”

Shiro tenderly looked at Keith “I know he is there, it's what convinced me Adam would be in safe hands, you’ll take care of our family, won’t you Keith?”

Keith went still, our family? As in Shiro and Adam’s family?

“Of course he will, he ran straight to the med bay when he knew about what happened, he’ll be a wonderful big brother!” Colleen gave him a sweet shake on his shoulders.

“I would welcome you to the big bro club but you need your peanut to apply, mine’s over there” Matt pointed at Katie and she stuck her tongue out.

“I want a new big brother!” She said and latched onto Keith.

“But he’ll have a sibling of his own! And I’m way cooler than Keith!” Matt complained.

Everyone laughed and didn’t notice Keith was having his own revelation and his world turned upside down.

Big brother? Him? To the baby? He looked at Adam’s sleeping form, Shiro was right, someone had to take care of them and if Shiro wasn’t around then he was the one who needed to step up, after all, that was what family did.

“I’ll take care of them Shiro!” Keith determinately said, they all were a bit shocked at his outburst but Keith had always been passionate with what he cared about so everyone cheered him on. A light shuffling was heard and they turned to see Adam regaining consciousness.

They all smiled as Colleen turned the phone and placed it facing Adam, Shiro saw in wonder as Adam’s eyelashes fluttered before he finally opened those eyes that melted Shiro’s heart every time he saw them when he woke up.

Adam smiled the moment he saw Shiro “Takashi,” He softly said with a sleepy smile and moved his arm to reach him but something stopped him, he looked at his arm and saw Keith gently pushing his arm back against the bed.

“You don’t want to pull your IV too much,” He said.

Slowly but surely, Adam looked around and saw everyone around him, Pidge had even gone to the other side of the bed and hopped on, cuddling close to his side and mindful of the equipment on his belly.

Adam happily moved his arm so she could properly cuddle up to him, he should’ve start smelling like pregnant but at its first stages it could be perceived mostly by younger ones and made them want to cuddle, after all, pregnant scent was motherly and warm.

He looked back at Shiro “I’m glad to see you, love,”

“I’m so happy to see you are both alright,” Shiro gently said.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you a picture,” Adam sadly said “They made an ultrasound to check on the baby while I was unconscious but I'll ask for one,”

“Don’t worry about it sweetheart, you can send it to me later once you’re cleared, then I’ll know you are out, don’t worry about me, just take care of yourself and our little peanut” Shiro said, he was amazed at how Adam was still thinking about him, worried about him even as he was on a hospital bed, his mate truly was something else and he loved him so much for it.

“What you’ve been up to?” Adam gently asked.

“We saw the most amazing sight of Saturn!” Matt excitedly said, Colleen placed the phone at a better angle while Keith and Curtis helped Adam sit, Pidge taking back her place cuddled up to Adam once he was properly against the pillows and they animatedly talked with the Kerberos Crew.

-

Keith had a job to do now, after the call he went to class as usual, the moment classes were over he ran to the med bay, he had people to take care of, family to look after. He was surprised when he saw Adam sitting on his bed with all kinds of paper.

“You are supposed to be resting, not working!” Keith admonished Adam, he just smiled back.

“I’m stubborn and Curtis is weak,” Adam replied “Besides, I’m not working, the Garrison assigned me an assistant and she is doing all the grading but I hate to be idle so Colleen gave me something to do and in fact I was just waiting for you to come over,” Adam said, lifted his blanket and patted the spot beside him.

Keith dropped his school bag in the chair and went to sit beside Adam, who sling an arm around his shoulders and pulled him against his chest.

“He got a tough job ahead” Adam said and finally Keith noticed what Adam had, they were all flyers on different houses.

“The Garrison offers three bedroom apartments right here in the main building like our apartment and the cadets quarters, they also have houses right outside the Garrison's border.

Colleen also gave me a few regular residential houses nearby, she lives 10 minutes from the Garrison, the Garrison ones are closer and the apartments are attached, we also have cleaning services and 24/7 house support if something needs fixing.

However we can’t really decorate much since it’s Garrison property which is why some of these residential could be better if you are up to decorating your room,” Adam said and squeezed his shoulder.

“Three bedrooms? M-my room?” Keith asked.

“Of course, I don’t think we need a fourth for visitors so far and the baby needs a room of its own, I mean I’m sure the baby will sleep with us at first but eventually will be moved to it’s own, unless you want to share but I know someone your age likes their privacy, we can decorate as you like but don’t go too wild on the budget and don’t just grab the one with the biggest room for you, we need to pick the perfect home for this little one and Shiro once they are here,” Adam easily said and kept checking the catalogues.

Keith couldn’t keep his eyes away from Adam, he was a member of their little family, everything they were planning included him, needed him! He felt his eyes watered and he hugged Adam like his life depended on it and for a moment he thought, it did, they were the ones who accepted a boy with a bad attitude into their home, who saw something more than his glare and encouraged him to be a better person.

He wanted to be better, he wanted to be a reliable part of their family and above all, he wanted to give back to Shiro and Adam, who had not given him a roof to stay under but gave him a warm home and a family. He felt arms encircling him and was grateful when Adam didn’t say a word and just held him tight against him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How you think Keith's room would be decorated?


	7. Taking care of you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some family and friends bonding and also explanations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone asked for protective Keith?

Adam was in class, he had young minds to teach and for them to learn, suddenly a vibrating sound has heard, fortunately it wasn’t very loud and only some of the front row kids noticed it.

Adam tried to move as naturally as possible to his desk were he had a water bottle, he drank from it and the vibrations stopped, apparently Keith had taken much too seriously his duties, he had placed alarms on Adam’s phone when he should drink water, eat a snack or take his vitamins. Adam had tried to turn them off but he couldn’t find anything on the alarm menu and even turning his phone off didn’t work.

He knew it was all Katie’s fault and those hellions had even placed a sensor on his things so the programmed alarm on his phone only stopped when the assigned vitamins were taken, the water level got lower or the healthy snacks in his tupper were eaten.

It was lunch time and Adam went out his classroom and he spotted Keith’s familiar figure coming closer, if there was one thing Adam liked of this whole ordeal was that they now finally had lunch together.

“You’re here rather quickly, was your class already over?” Adam said

“Iverson was still talking but who cares, you can explain it to me later and he is boring” Keith said

“I appreciate this Keith but we can meet at the cafeteria, let your class be over and then meet me, I won’t run away, I promise” Adam said gently as they took their packed lunches out, Adam really wanted some junk food but Keith would always glare at him and prevented it, he was being severely strict on his diet and water drinking that Adam sometimes questioned who really was the legal guardian.

-

It was the weekend and the little family had visits from the Holts and Curtis, they were talking housing while also having some coffee and some snacks, blessed it be Curtis who brought cake and didn’t relent to Keith’s glare, or maybe Curtis just didn’t notice it, despite being one of the best on his job, he was amazingly oblivious in everyday life

“I like the idea of having you as a neighbor” Adam said “You said it’s two houses away?” Adam asked

“Three houses” Colleen corrected

“But you’ll need buy a car to go back and forth” Curtis said

“Wait, what do you mean you don’t have a car? What about the one I stole from Shiro?” Keith asked

“Shiro and I have always lived in the Garrison so our apartment and that car is Garrison property and it’s lent to us, none of us has really owned something, or at least something big” Adam said “I do want Keith to decorate his room and have you close but having to pick up both kids would be tricky with our schedules”

“I could always walk back, you don’t need to pick me up” Keith said

“I knew you’d say that” Adam looked back at Keith “You’ll eventually have afternoon classes and there is no way I’m making you walk, it’s 10 minutes by car and at night by foot, no”

“The Garrrison let’s you decorate to an extend” Curtis said

“So the Garrison housing is more appealing now, fortunately I’ll have leave for three months after the birth and around that time Takashi is coming back, I still have the Garrison nursery but I hate the idea of leaving my baby all day”

“I can pick the baby up after my classes!” Keith said

“Katie will soon start at the Garrison as well, I can come pick them up and make sure they all eat, of course with your permission to come to your house” Colleen said

“Permission? You’ll have a spare key even without needing to feed them and thank you” Adam said

“It’s alright, I’m sure Katie would rather eat first than having to wait to get home, no matter how close it is, and before I forget, on your next appointment you can ask the baby’s gender, it’s best if you know if you’d like to know or not so your doctor knows not to spoil you anything” Colleen said

“The baby’s gender? I’ll have to ask Takashi about it, I’d like the surprise but if he wants to know then I have no problem” Adam said

“You prefer a boy of a girl?” Keith asked

Adam smiled back at him “I don’t really mind at all, would you prefer a brother or a sister?”

“I don’t think I’ll mind either, it would be nice to have a sibling, hopeful not like Pidge” Keith said

“HEY!” She complained

-

Yesterday had been such a good day, he had family and friends over for dinner, he had fun, he had laughed, then why was he feeling like this? Why was it back again? Talking about the future made some ugly thoughts resurface in Adam’s mind, questioning his coming parenthood.

He had jumped at the idea of a child, he already had one with Keith but Keith was much older and they only were a few years apart, his baby would rely solely on him until he had Takashi back, would he be able to do it? Was he ready? Would he be a good parent? Was the apartment the right choice? What if he screwed up something? What if something happened and Takashi wasn’t able to meet his baby because of Adam? What if-

He cut his train of thought by burying his head against his pillow, his special pillow with a familiar scent he loved, he took a deep breath and smelled his mate’s unique scent, it reminded Adam of pine trees, fresh smelling but strong like Shiro, like always, his mate’s scent helped him relax

He had told Shiro he’d clean his dirty laundry but he hadn’t, he knew he’d miss him so he had stashed it all and hid it from view. Adam had grabbed one of Shiro’s shirts and placed it around the fluffiest pillow he could find and was clutching it like it was his mate, he remembered Colleen told him these kind of insecurities were usual at this stage of pregnancy, so he took a deep breath and cleared his mind.

Finally he emerged from his room were Keith was making some toast for breakfast, they were easy enough and good thing it didn’t involved knifes, what was with Keith and his fixation on knives?

“Did all your clothes catch fire?” Keith asked

Adam looked down on himself and saw his pajamas, well they were Shiro’s clothes “They are loose so it’s more comfortable”

“You’re taller”

“He’s bulkier”

Adam sat and grabbed a toast and marmalade

“Are you ready for Shiro’s call?” Keith asked, now that they were closer to Kerberos, the calls had gone from two weeks at the time to once a month, hopefully once they had placed all in the camp, Matt would be able to make a steadier signal to call back home more often.

“He should call soon, we need to be at Sam’s office so don’t take long on your breakfast” Adam said, the small family finished eating and went to Sam’s office.

“Curtis! I thought you said you had work?” Adam asked.

“I made some time and I have something to tell you both,” he said, Adam curiously looked at him but soon the call began.

“Hey!” The Kerberos crew greeted them.

“How’s space?” Keith asked.

“Cold, it's so sad and dark,” Matt said.

“You love it here, yesterday you were geeking out on a comet,” Shiro said.

“A comet! Which one!” Katie and Keith asked.

The families talked for a fee moment but everyone could see Shiro was eager to talk about one particular thing.

"How's pregnancy treating you Adam?" Sam finally took Shiro out of his misery.

"Have you been taking care of Adam, Keith?" Shiro said

Keith was about to answer when Adam beat him to it.

"My pregnancy, great! My dieting, I hate it and Keith has make sure I follow it to the letter" Adam dejectedly said

"It's not so different from a standard Garrison diet, you just got used to the teacher life" Keith lifted an eyebrow

"You did barely passed your physicals, love," Shiro mentioned.

"I can't believe it, my own mate" Adam dramatically said "You're supposed to be on my side even if I'm wrong"

"I don't think-" Sam quietly said behind them.

"Fine, fine, Keith don't be so strict, let him eat something he wants once in a while," Shiro gently said to Keith who just glared at Adam's smug face.

“Thank you, sweetheart! And this won't go unnoticed, here" Adam pulled out the photo he got on his last appointment "My latest ultrasound"

“It’s so beautiful!” Shiro sheepishly looked at Adam “You think I could...?”

Adam knew exactly what he wanted and he happy lifted his shirt and showed Shiro the small bump.

It was still mostly concealed by his clothes but once revealed without it, there was no doubt on Adam’s condition, Shiro could feel his eyes water at the proof of their little one and at seeing Adam’s happy smile.

“The doctor said we can know the gender now but I wanted to ask you, she told me nothing but I can text her if you want” Adam said.

“What do you want?” Shiro said “I’d like for it to be a surprise, so you can just not tell me but I know you probably want to prepare a name, don’t you?” Shiro said.

“Well, the baby may grow to like another so don’t feel too much pressure, just don’t be too lazy on it,” Colleen said.

“I, well, on this I would like the surprise, gender is the least I worry about, I just want this little baby to come out healthy and strong,” Adam rubbed his bump.

“You?!” Matt pointed at Adam with disbelief “You nearly socked me in the jaw the last time we tried to do you a surprise party!”

“I did let you do some for me,” Adam complained.

“You knew exactly when and were it was, you just didn’t know the details” Matt rolled his eyes.

“I was helping you! Takashi is useless at lying and it was better for you to tell me to go away and not my poor mate awkwardly telling me to go buy bug spray because he thought he saw a mouse and to please take my time,” Adam retorted.

“Wow you really are bad at lying,” Katie said.

“It’s why I mated him when he told me he loved me, I completely believed him,” Adam said and the couple looked at each other in adoration. Matt, Katie and Keith did gagging noises.

“Well, I know of someone who doesn’t like you guys sneaking off to mate” Curtis said and they all looked back at him “I ran into Andrea today and she complained about you two,”

“Oh yes, what did she said?” Colleen asked but Shiro looked lost.

“We chose a Garrison family apartment so Adam has already sent the application to ask for the change” Keith told Shiro

“Yeah, she is the one making the paperwork and I saw her today, the apartment is available but she needs to pull out your mating certificate and do a bunch of stuff since you guys are not married,” Curtis said.

“You’re not married?” Keith said

“We are mated for life, marriage is really just a paper, it's really nothing against this bite” Adam pointed at his neck “Or that at least is what we thought”

“For the law, you have no relation to one another and in this stuff they need to prove why two unrelated people are asking for a family apartment, being mated gives you the same rights and priviledges of a married couple but she said she has to do more paperwork to do so, which could’ve been avoided if your status were married, you went through the same with Keith” Curtis explained.

“Me?” Keith splurted.

“Technically, Shiro is your legal guardian, like Curtis said, in the eyes of the law there is no paper saying Takashi and I are a couple so you can’t have shared custody with two people” Adam told him “The House was surprised when two people were asking to adopt you until they saw it was really a couple,”

“Which would be solved if you knuckle heads had just married already!” Curtis said exasperated, Adam and Shiro just looked away.

“Why haven’t you?” Katie prodded.

“Well you know we were young and stupid when we mated” Adam said with Shiro’s indignant squawk coming from the screen “We thought mating was just enough and since the Garrison issued a certificate of acknowledgement on our mating to one another and we get both a roof and transport from the Garrison as well, well we never really cared until now” Adam said

“I’ll marry the heck out of you when I get back” Shiro enthusiastically said

“Takashi, that is the worst proposal I’ve ever heard, think it over and properly propose to me in 8 months” Adam said

“Should we begin preparations?” Curtis asked

“No, I still don’t know if I’ll say yes” Adam said

“How are you not going to say yes?! You’re going to have a baby by then!” Keith said exasperated.

“I still need to see his proposal” Adam firmly said.

“I’ll help you make a proposal that he can’t refuse!” Matt said excitedly.

“No! The craziest things on my surprise parties were always your ideas! No, stay away!” Adam pointed accusingly at Matt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got suggestions for baby names?  
> I will admit I already have one XD  
> But maybe one will guess it or be featured on the next chap ;)


	8. One small leap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam deals with pregancy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this chapter please...  
> :)

_Rambo_

“What?!” Adam screeched from his spot laid over the couch.

“Shhh!” Colleen pointed at a sleeping Pidge who had snuggled herself in between Adam and the couch’s backrest.

“Oh, sorry, it’s just that Matt sent me another awful name, how is he doing this? According to the Garrison, we’re only supposed to contact them via the videochats,” Adam said.

“Well you said it, according to the Garrison, apparently Matt made his own transmission device so he could get in contact with Katie without telling me or Sam, they said it was just for harmless fun and apparently Katie added your phone to the mix, they call it a Personal Informant Developer and Generator of Entertainmement or PIDGE for short”

“And that is?”

“Memes,”

“What?!”

“Matt says he doesn’t want to miss anything and that a year out of internet it’s like dog years so he’ll be behind on the culture as far as 15 years,” She explained rolling her eyes.

“I can’t believe these kids,” Adam said but a fond smile took his face at seeing Katie peacefully sleeping pressed up against his side, he softly ran his hand through her hair.

“It’s the pregnancy scent,” Colleen said looking at him “It’s motherly and warm, makes others, specially alphas, be protective of us and on kids makes them feel safe and often sleepy,”

“Oh, so that is why my students have been extra helpful, I’ve been dizzy sometimes, moved too fast or felt unbalanced and they always check on me, specially my alpha students, even Keith has been extra attentive but he’s also been softer on me, he finally let me get that chocolate box, I never was a big sweet tooth, that is Takashi but I already ran through all his stash of chocolate” Adam complained

“Pregnancy cravings dearest” Colleen singsonged “And backing up to the names, though on anything?”

“Well we don’t know what this little one is so I’d like to have two options, although I’ll admit I’ve been lazy in searching plus your son is spamming me all day with awful ones, so far I like names like Josh, or Kimberly, Summer is also such a pretty name, I know Takashi would like names like Himeko or Ryu and I also fancy some like Isabel or Ángel, we are such a pair, none of us are from here yet we were mostly raised here, maybe we can each name one to whatever our preferences,”

“Each?”

Adam blushed “Takashi mentioned another baby and I think giving this little peanut another sibling would be nice, closer of age although I know Keith will be wonderful with them,”

Adam looked at the clock and he realized he had to go now, he sighed and carefully moved while he placed a cushion for Pidge to cuddle with.

“You’re leaving already?” Colleen asked sadly.

“Yeah, I’ve been lazing around enough and I need to get back with Keith, his classes should be over soon and it’s already meal time” Adam stood up and said his good byes before leaving. He arrived on time and caught Keith at the door.

“How were your classes?” Adam asked.

“Most were boring, at least we got to use the simulator at the last class,” Keith said.

“You know you have to pay attention, prodigy or not but class is over, it’s home time so start putting the table, I’ll heat up the food” Adam told him, Keith went to his task but a few moments later, he heard the clatter of a utensil, he quickly turned around and found Adam covering his nose and away from the stove.

“What happened? You alright?” Keith worriedly asked.

Adam gave slow breaths “I’m ok, I just got nausea from the smell,”

Keith turned to the food and then back at Adam “But earlier today...”

“Yeah, I know I asked for miso soup and finally made it but now just the smell made me gag,” Adam sighed in defeat “I really wanted some, I’ve been missing it for a while,”

“Hey, I’ll heat up something else, you think you can stomach pizza?” Keith helped him to a chair.

“You’re giving me junk food?” Adam said in disbelief.

“Well I can’t exactly make something quick other than heating the frozen pizza and Shiro told me to let you eat something you like, it’s a shame you couldn’t eat your miso,”

“Yeah, I feel it more than you can imagine” He sighed “They already took my coffee away, now you won’t let me eat my miso,” Adam complained to his belly.

“You can still eat your spicy stuff,” Keith said while he put the pizza.

“Yes but not that spicy,” Adam said from his spot.

-

They finished their food and Keith began to put everything away, Adam usually helped as well but Keith had taken the task for himself and Adam liked to grab a snack or something sweet to snack on while he watched crap television.

Keith saw when Adam grabbed the wasabi pocky, a bowl and the Valentina, a spicy sauce only Adam liked, he saw in shock as Adam absent-mindedly threw the pockys into the bowl and covered them with the sauce before he ate them, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“Are you-?” Keith started but oh well, he had heard that pregnancies could give crazy cravings, he also knew it could make them emotional but he had to endure Adam sniffling at cheap romantic films on TV, usually he liked to laugh at them but now he was invested in them, well, he must miss Shiro so Keith let go of his eye roll and just kept doing his task, when he finished he heard Adam groan.

“I think the spiciness wasn’t a good idea,” He said.

“You ate junk food and then wasabi pockys with spicy sauce, what did you expect?” Keith deadpanned.

“You’re supposed to take care of me” Adam complained.

“Last time I tried to stop one of your cravings you grounded me”

“I didn’t follow through!” Adam retorted and took his hands to the slight curve on his stomach, he looked at it confused.

“I feel something but it doesn’t quite feel like indigestion, it’s different” Adam thought for a moment before his eyes grew bigger and bigger “It’s the baby!” He laughed “Keith I’m feeling the baby move!”

Keith quickly went to his side, he gave one look at Adam and he nodded before Keith placed a hand on his belly, He stayed for a moment but Keith felt nothing.

“It stopped now, it should be stronger over time” Adam said to a disappointed Keith “Don’t worry, it’s still three more months to go” He tenderly said and patted Keith’s head.

Adam’s phone chirped and he saw the message, his soft look was immediately changed into annoyance.

“What the hell is a Peanucchio?!” Adam screamed at Matt’s message.

-

Adam was in a better mood today, Keith noticed, and how couldn’t he? Today was Shiro’s call and there was a funny fact Colleen and the doctor had told him, the baby could now clearly hear him, so that meant Keith saw Adam randomly chatting and behaving like a vlogger, as in describing his every action to the small baby inside him, by the way Adam stopped and smiled at his belly, he knew the baby was already a dork that loved to answer to his mother with little kicks, he hated to admit it but he also loved the feel of little kicks when Keith spoke to it once.

“Let’s see what your big brother is up to,” Speaking of, Keith turned and there was Adam looking expectantly at him “Go on, tell the baby what you’re up to,”

“Nothing much, I’m putting away some boxes to make space for more” Keith awkwardly said to Adam while also looking at his showing belly over his usual Garrison uniform. Keith hardly knew how to interact with human beings and yet Adam wanted him to hypothetically talk to his stomach, it was strange but he tried.

“That’s right little one, we’re moving to a bigger and better space, you’ll have your own room and it will have all kinds of pretty things,” He said to his belly with a tender rub before looking back at Keith “I still don’t know if I want a theme or just a color scheme,”

“I think red is nice,” Keith suggested.

“Red, for a baby’s room,” Adam deadpanned “I think you’ll have enough red for the baby and your room will probably be red as well, have you seen anything you liked for yours?”

“I saw a mothman poster!”

“Oh dear lord,” Adam pinched between his eyes “I knew I shouldn’t have let you alone with Matt,” Adam sighed as Keith rambled about it, he is not leaving his baby alone with Matt anytime.

They finished their tasks and met Katie and Colleen on Sam’s office were they waited for the crew to answer their call, finally they appeared on-screen but there was something different.

“Greetings from Kerberos!” The three science nerds said with wiggling fingers.

“Oh my god!” Katie screamed.

“You are there already!” Keith nearly plastered himself on the screen but Adam grabbed him by the back of his uniform.

“Show us! Show us! Show us!” Katie began chanting,

“Aw little pidgey is excited!” Matt cooed at his sister.

“You are standing on one of Pluto’s moons, who wouldn’t be?”

“Yes we know!” The three idiots chanted in unison.

“Well, I can’t take the camera but if I take it with enough isolation material to protect the camera...”Matt mumbled to himself “...hey we don’t actually need all the fuselage of the ship, one of the fuel tanks will be empty anyways”

Sam gave a cough and put his hand on Matt’s shoulder to stop his rambling “We can’t show you outside, the camera won’t survive and you know how long it takes us to go out, it’s a hostile enviroment out there, better not mess with it”

“Yes please, thank you, someone finally said something sensible, I still can’t believe the Garrison thought of you three as the best candidates,” Adam said.

“You’ll probably try to open a window to take a photo,” Colleen agreed.

“Ah! That is why there are no easily opened windows here!” Sam responded to his mated wife.

“So the Garrison literally dummy proofed the entire mission?” Keith asked amused.

“You’d be surprised by the amount of dummy proofing the Garrison does, all members have great minds at the cost of self-preservation,” Colleen told Keith.

“Here here” Adam said.

“But that is what makes us the best Garrison in the world!” Matt said with some flashy pointy guns, Adam and Colleen rolled their eyes much to the amusement of their mates.

“Just take care and make sure you're warm when you go out!” Colleen told Matt.

“Mom! I’ll be wearing a super advanced space suit for outside,”

“And I want you to wear an extra isolation layer!”Colleen said with finality.

“Yes mom,” Matt grumbled.

“Yes mom!” Keith and Katie repeated in a mocking voice and snickered afterwards when Matt stuck his tongue out to them.

Adam laughed at their antics, he always liked for the families to catch up and chat, he knew if they began talking about the baby, Shiro wouldn’t stop until their time was up and although he loved knowing Shiro was just as excited as him, he didn’t want the families to be overshadowed by them, he contently saw as Keith was talking about his latest simulator score.

For the families however, it was a nice detail of Adam to give them some time to just talk non-baby stuff but everyone could see the way Shiro never took his eyes off Adam and would only move to take a few glances at his belly area, today was even more obnoxious because now he had a stupid dreamy look on his eyes, one that Adam saw and often would shyly look away but would still smile softly back at him, it was tooth-rooting.

For Shiro, today was even better than any before, he noticed Adam’s uniform, specially the way it didn’t quite fit him on the shoulders area, it was loose and when he looked at his belly area, he noticed the hem was higher than it should be, in fact if Adam lifted his arms he was sure a peak of skin would show, to Shiro this all meant but one thing, Adam was wearing his uniform, the best part was that now he could see the smallest of bumps trying to peek from under Adam-, from under _his_ uniform, call him a dumb alpha brain but this was extremely pleasing for him.

Finally it was time to put an end to Shiro’s missery

“You can talk baby now” Keith rolled his eyes

“Matt!” Adam immediately pointed at him “Stop sending me awful names!”

“Names?” Shiro looked confused

“You didn’t tell him?” Adam was also confused

“He would’ve gotten distracted, more than he does anyway and we were close to landing, I do have a bit of self-preservation,” Matt explained.

“So you’re already checking names?”

“Yeah and Matt is not helping at all,”

“I think Jif is a fine name!” Matt argued.

“It’s a peanut butter brand!” Adam countered.

Shiro looked thoughtful for a moment “I’ll send some when I have time”

“I would love it if you do,” Adam said “I need sensible options,”

“I’ll do my best,”

“I know you will,”

“Other than that, how you’ve been?” Shiro asked

“The usual, cravings and stuff,” Adam brushed off easily.

“He poured Valentina on the wasabi pockys,” Keith told them to everyone’s surprise except for Colleen and Sam, they had seen worse.

“I also” Adam covered Keith’s mouth “had something exciting happen” He made a pause for his attentive audience “I felt the baby move!”

“He thought it was gas!” Keith yelled from behind Adam’s hands

“Everyone thinks it’s gas at the beginning dear,” Colleen said to Keith

“That’s amazing!” Shiro excitedly said, he also wanted to say how he wished he could feel it but he’ll arrive back home once the baby is born and he knew very well Adam felt guilty over him missing his pregnancy, he was even willing to end it early on if it meant they could wait for him, he wasn't letting Adam feel any guilt.  


“Yeah, it moved when I talked to it once!” Keith said.

“Hey, I want to feel it too!” Katie said and pressed her ear to a startled Adam’s belly “Hello! Anyone in there?”

Colleen pulled her back “Katie! Don’t be rude! You have to always ask first!”

“It’s alright, she just moved too fast,” Adam placated Colleen.

“But everything is alright then?” Shiro asked.

“I’ve been dizzy sometimes but they told me it’s completely normal, I do feel it when I move too quickly and my body is not used to the extra weight, I have no idea how it’s going to be once I get even bigger” Adam rubber his belly, Shiro marveled at how big it was already.

“They also told me another interesting thing,” Adam’s voice brought back his attention to his smiling mate “The baby can hear us already,”

“So you were listening!” Katie accused the baby.

“Yes and I wanted to ask you for something,” Adam shyly told Shiro.

“Whatever you need sweetheart,” Shiro said.

“I want you to talk to the baby and, I also want to record it, I don’t want the baby to ever forget the sound of your voice and I know you’ll be busy,”

Shiro only stared dumbfounded back at Adam, Sam and Matt smiled at Adam’s request and were quick to set everything up, over at earth, Katie with Keith’s help, started connecting a speaker and setting up for a recording, Shiro had yet to respond and was just staring at Adam.

“Hey man, time to talk to your baby,” Matt pulled at Shiro’s sleeve, finally a smile broke out and he quickly took a seat on the front of the screen, everyone went quiet as Shiro started to think, back on earth Adam had pushed his shirt up and Keith had brought the little speaker next to Adam’s belly.

Shiro licked his lips before he focused his gaze on the curve of Adam’s belly, his baby

“Baby? Hi, this is dad”

 _“He’s going to be amazing at dad jokes, I know it,”_ Matt whispered to Sam in the back.

“I know I’m not there at the moment but I want you to know that I can’t wait to be there, there’s nothing I want more than to meet you and I’ll never leave your side once I get there, I’ll be there for you and your wonderful papa, for as long as I’m able,” He locked eyes with Adam “I love you,”

Silence took over the room, Adam, Sam and Colleen were quietly sniffling while Keith, Katie and Matt looked away, pretending they weren’t also affected by Shiro’s words.

“I love you too” Adam said before he jumped slightly.

“What is that?!” Katie screeched.

Adam felt the baby move more than it had ever done before but more than that, the movement was visible on his belly.

“I think the baby likes your voice” Adam said,

“I think it does” Shiro smiled as he saw the little movements on Adam’s skin.

Sam saw the scene tenderly but their time was up “I wished we had more time with you but we need to rest, we got a long day ahead of us collecting those ice samples!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...beause I think we all know this is only going to get rougher  
> But don't worry, there are going to be happy times as well, no full angst


	9. Abduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Sadness :(  
> Adam and Colleen get bad news

_I love you_

The morning after the call, Keith sees Adam on the couch, his phone once again playing Shiro’s recording, he’d been playing it non-stop all morning and while he claimed it was for the baby, Keith knew it was for Adam as well.

He left for his class while Adam stayed at home, he didn’t have class early in the morning, which meant he could wake up late and laze around for a while, with his pregnancy at five months and a half, he was getting more itchy and cramped so he relished on this little moments.

Soon it was time for Adam to head to class but not before he heard that recording again, yes, he wanted it for the baby but he adored to hear Takashi say _I love you_ , remember that love filled gaze he gave him when he said it but alas, work spared no one, well not until two more weeks, his maternity leave began at his sixth month so soon he’ll be able to rest.

His thoughts were on Shiro when panic suddenly arose from withing him, but it wasn’t his panic, it was Shiro’s thought their bond.

Adam’s hand went immediately to the bite on his neck, what was happening? Takashi and the Holts were in Kerberos already, was Shiro alright? Did something happened? Thoughts on the dangers of space came to mind, his own panic filled his thoughts as well as Shiro’s, his breath became labored and short, Adam collapsed against the window before he dropped to his knees.

_No! Takashi! I can’t lose you!_

“Professor? Professor Adam!”

Adam could hear a commotion but he couldn’t process anything else but Shiro’s panic and his own before everything went dark and he fainted.

-

Adam slowly woke up, his surroundings coming to him in bits when the past events hit him.

“My bab-!”

“It’s safe, the baby is safe,” Colleen’s shaky voice said from his side.

Adam’s heavy breathing slowed down as he heard the delicate but healthy beat of his baby in the monitor beside him, he saw however Colleen’s bloodshed eyes, his heart went cold.

“You felt it too, didn’t you?” She sadly said as more tears gathered in her eyes.

“Is,” Adam was scared to ask but he needed to know “Is… Sam?” 

“I can still feel him,” Colleen said and Adam sighed in relief.

“I can still feel Takashi too,” Adam told her.

“That is such a relief,” She said with a smile.

“What happened? Has the Garrison told you anything?” Adam asked.

“No but we have been called for a meeting with Sanda, we are just waiting for you to get clearance,” Colleen said.

“Is something wrong?” Adam asked.

“Nothing so far” Juliana, Adam’s OB said “I couldn’t help but hear your bond is not broken, that is a relief, the amount of pain and stress of a bond break could create complications, specially since your pregnancy has been delicate since the beginning,”

“But, everything is alright?” Adam tried to sit up.

“You need to rest sweetheart,” Colleen gently pushed Adam’s hair back and urged him to laid back down.

“No, I-, I need to know what happened! Is Takashi safe?” Adam was still agitated.

“I can’t give you clearance until you calm down” Juliana said.

Someone knocked the door, it was one of Sanda’s close Commanders, he only gave half a glance towards Adam and Colleen before he turned to the doctor.

“A word please” He said and they left, Adam and Colleen just looked at each other in confusion.

“What did you feel?” Adam cautiously asked.

“Panic and fear” Tears began forming “And I still feel it, it’s so small but it’s there” Fresh tears gathered on her eyes, Adam was quick to grab her hand.

_ “It’s against my professional advise!” _

Both looked at the door were Adam’s OB and the Commander were speaking, or arguing more likely, the door swung open to her angry form.

“You better have everything I’ve asked for! I’m not taking my patient just like that!” She firmly said, the Commander paid no attention to her outburst and just left.

“Juliana, what is happening?” Adam turned to her doctor, she gently helped him into a sitting position.

“The Admiral needs to talk to both of you and, according to Commander Jerkface, now,” She said as she began placing smaller sensors, that could be traveled with, in Adam’s chest and belly.

“It’s important enough to force Adam into going? You haven’t given him clearance, why can’t they just tell us what happened?” Colleen’s fear was visible.

“What could be so bad they need us? They are alive, we can feel them,” Adam was also confused.

In came back the Commander with a wheelchair that was used to keep a regular check on his vitals during transport, he approached Adam’s bed and helped him to it without so much as a word.

Adam and Colleen were getting even more anxious, a Commander like him wouldn’t get involved like this, even going so far as personally helping Adam, they usually watched as another officer or cadet did the work, this only meant one thing, they wanted to keep whatever was happening to a low number of people.

They entered a room were Sanda was sitting in the middle, two seats to her right and left, Commander Jerkface went to the vacant seat.

Admiral Sanda began “Can we confirm the status of your mates?”

“We can feel them,” Both said.

“As you are probably aware, a situation has happened, one that is beyond our control, we’ll show you the last footage sent by the Kerberos ship, it’s not gruesome but it’s not usual” Without further words from the Admiral, a holographic screen appeared.

Matt’s cheery voice came from the recording and Colleen choked out a sob at her son’s voice and later her mate.

A noise was heard.

“Get back to the ship!” Shiro’s cried it out in fear, Adam gripped the armrest of the wheelchair.

Suddenly something beyond their imagination happened, a giant ship unlike any they have ever seen appeared on-screen, it projected a beam of light that began dragging everything, including the ship with the camera.

Colleen gasped in shock, her hands went to her face as fresh tears spilled down her cheeks as they both heard their families screams as they were dragged into the alien ship, shortly after the video got cut off.

Adam was dead still, his eyes were wide and his hands were becoming white at gripping tightly the hand rest, a low beeping came from Adam’s doctor’s tablet, she saw as Adam’s heartrate began to spike.

Colleen also reacted to it and saw Adam’s unmoving form, despite the pain she felt and the shock of it, her worry was now focused on Adam, she wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to direct his face into her neck, a familiar scent should calm him but he had yet to react.

“Why would you show this to him?! If something happens-” Juliana said

“Nothing will happen, that is why you’re here,” Sanda simply stated.

Julia gritted her teeth but went back to check on Adam, Colleen was quietly talking to him and brushing his hair in a soothing matter, they sighed in relief when Adam finally moved and pushed his nose against Colleen’s neck.

It took a few seconds for Adam to calm down “Why did you showed us this?” He said still pressed against Colleen’s neck.

“Evidently we can’t broadcast this to the public, furthermore, today in an hour it’s programmed a press release on the landing on Kerberos, all of those involved need to know exactly what the official statement will be,”

At the lack from response from both, Sanda continued “We’ll declare them dead, pilot error,” She simply said.

Adam’s blood boiled, he snarled at Sanda before he tried to stand. 

“My mate did not break his back, spent hours upon hours studying, practicing, nearly dying on a test run and all while battling a disease for you to push the blame on him!” Adam screamed at Sanda, Colleen and Juliana tried their best to calm him and support his weight but Adam kept going.

“Why don’t you say it was an engine malfunction? Because you won’t blame yourselves for the ‘death’ of the Kerberos crew yet are completely willing to fully throw it at my mate! Who has done nothing but put the Garrison’s name in high regard! I don’t care what you say but if I so much as hear ‘Pilot Error’ I will scream at anyone who cares to listen that my mate is alive!” Adam yelled, he finally felt the itching on his hand, at some point Juliana had placed an IV on him, he didn’t even feel it, he was placed back on the chair, after a few seconds, Colleen spoke.

“We are not the only ones that know, our children, they were there when they last communicated, will you also ask them to lie? How long will we have to pretend they are dead? Until it’s no longer a lie?” She coldly said, the Admiral said nothing back.

“We can offer relocation” One of her Commanders said.

“Relocation!” Colleen snapped as well “You are to send us away, from our friends, our families and everything we’ve built just to keep your lie?!”

“Yes, do I really need to stress why we must keep this situation confidential?” Sanda said

“Fine” Adam said from his chair “I’ll keep your secret but you better try to find my mate”

“I won’t bargain with you, it’s clear you are emotionally compromised” Sanda said

“Those are three human beings you are leaving to die! You don’t need to be involved you just have to be human!” Adam yelled at her.

“Even if we tried, what would we achieve? The ship is gone, we don’t know how far it is and even if we tried we would risk contacting an alien life form with unknown intentions, their lack of communication to the Kerberos crew only signals that they are most likely hostile” Sanda narrowed her eyes at Adam.

“We can research” One of her Commanders said “The ship left a contrail on his way out, the numbers are outstanding, researching about this could potentially help us with enhancing our own technology” He turned to Colleen and Adam “We can’t promise we’ll find them but we can investigate all we can” He then looked to Sanda “Withing safe limits, we won’t make contact with any alien life form, if we give you those term, would you agree to keep the secret?” He said that last part to Colleen and Adam, they looked at each other and knew it was as best they could get.

“We agree but I’ll be involved on the team” Colleen said.

“Acceptable, then I’ll just go through the terms, we will announce the death of the crew, the reason won’t be pilot error, you will be required to confirm the death of your mates and act so, this requires the hiding of your bond marks at all times, if you don’t wish to continue we can look for relocation, an investigation will be opened on top secrecy, Dr. Holt will be part of the project and it will carry on even in the situation of the death of one of the crew, the investigation will carry on so long as it’s priority is always the Garrison and Earth’s security, the only ones that will have knowledge of this are myself, my highest commander officers, here present, the one who spotted the ship’s dissappearance, Curtis Brooks and the families of the Kerberos crew, Colleen and Katie Holt, Keith Kogane and Adam Wright along with his obstetrician, Juliana Castile” Sanda said with finality.

Without anything else needed, the Garrison officials left, leaving only Colleen, Juliana and Adam, once everything was said and done, the situation finally dropped on Adam as tears filled his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the sadness!  
> I was sad myself but we knew this would happen :(


	10. Memorial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a service

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More sadness but family ties are showed a little, enjoy!

The living room was quiet and still, there was a general feeling of sadness and worry that clouded the place.

Colleen, Keith and Katie were gathered there, they in black clothing except Keith who had his cadet uniform, Keith and Colleen were constantly giving glances at a closed-door and looking at the clock, Katie was sitting on an armrest with her back to them, unmoving.

There was a soft knock and Colleen went to open the door, it was Curtis.

“Colleen, how are you?” He asked.

She sighed deeply “As best as I can, with the situation at hand, worrying about him,” She nodded at the door.

Curtis looked at the closed-door before turning his attention back at her “I’ll check on him, if he can’t or won’t then he’ll stay here, you take a rest too,”

Colleen relaxed a bit at his words and nodded back at him.

Curtis then moved to Katie and crouched down so he could see her face “Hey, it’s only a short ceremony, then you can go back to the lab,”

“We shouldn’t even be doing it, they are alive” Katie talked back but sighed in defeat “Promise?”

“I’ll take you there personally, you brought your clothes?” Curtis told her and she nodded “Then it’s settled,” He said with a soft pat to her head.

Keith only watched as Curtis comforted the Holts, he didn’t want to admit it, but he was jealous, Curtis had seamlessly become the way alphas should, he took care of those who needed them and offered comfort, he was their pillar and guidance.

Keith was an alpha, in fact he was the one Shiro had left to care for their family but it seemed someone had one-upped him, and he couldn’t really be mad, Curtis was several years older and gentle by nature but Keith was already 17, he wanted to be a real alpha, someone people could rely on and trust but apparently he wasn’t there yet, he jolted when he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey Keith, how you holding up?” Curtis asked him gently.

Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no!

He didn’t need cuddling! He was an alpha just like Curtis and he should be the one offering comfort, not the other way around! And-

“I’m just worried about him,” Keith relented, he hated how much his gentle, open expression paired with his scent that reminded Keith of hot chocolate was able to coax his worries out of him.

“I’ll check on him in a minute, he’ll be fine, he has all of us caring for him,” Curtis gently said.

“I know but I want to do more, Shiro entrusted them to me but I’ve done nothing!” Keith said.

“Hey, you’ve done plenty! You give Adam his food and make sure he’s comfortable, and that nest didn’t make itself! We did it! It wouldn’t be finished if you hadn’t been involved,” Curtis told him and Keith nodded back, he just had to do better, Curtis ruffled his hair a little before he turned his attention to the elephant in the room.

He took a deep breath before he went inside Adam’s room, he did it slowly so he wouldn’t disturb the one inside it, the room was dark since the curtains were closed, at the back of the room, on one corner was pushed Adam and Shiro’s bed that had been quickly made into a nest while Adam was still in the hospital. 

It was filled with pillows and blankets, the two walls where the bed was pushed to were covered by soft padding for nests and there was also a light see-through curtain installed, giving privacy to whoever was inside.

Curtis slowly and quietly went to the edge of the bed and carefully lifted the fabric, all that could meet his eye were the pillows but little flashes of skin told him there was indeed someone in, he located a part were he could see a mop of hair and a peek of an eye closed shut in sleep.

He sighed, there was no way he was waking Adam for the service the Garrison was doing for the Kerberos crew, he needed peace and sleep and he was getting just that wrapped around his new maternity pillow, Curtis was ready to go back out, tell them Adam was not going, he just needed to close the curtain again but was startled as the eye he saw was now opened and looking intently at him.

“It’s today, isn’t it?” Adam said in a muffled voice

“Yes but if you don’t want to go then you won’t,” He reassured Adam.

Adam thought it for a moment before he slowly began to sit up “No, I better go, I know it’s pretend but it could stop being pretend at any minute, is everyone here?”

“Yes, they’re all outside, should I let them in?”

Adam thought about it for a moment “Yes, it’s for the best, Keith is probably pacing around,”

“He is but he’s only worried about you,”

“I know, I wish I could worry him less,”

“You need to rest and we all understand it, for once take care of yourself instead of others or well, just focus on caring for that little one,”

Adam smiled and rubbed his belly, he went out of bed as Curtis opened the door, like flash Keith was already barging in, he saw Adam and then quickly began to take out his uniform and placed it in reach for Adam.

“Here, darling” Colleen approached him with a rehydration drink, Adam had lost his appetite entirely since Shiro’s dissapereance a week ago, but he didn’t need to eat for himself, it was for the baby so he forced himself to eat even if just a little, mostly liquid meals like chicken soup were good and his OB recommended to constantly drink rehydration solutions she gave to him.

Adam began changing into his uniform Keith had helpfully brought closer, he even held his shirt so Adam just plucked his arms in and after Adam got his pants, Keith went to help him with his shoes, which Adam was grateful because he was definitely not in the mood of bending down, he was ready and about to leave when Keith presented to him the last item of his clothing, Adam stopped on his tracks to stare at it.

It was a collar, a black collar.

Usually when a mate died it was customary that the surviving part would cover their mating bite with a collar, just like black clothes, as a symbol of mourning but to Adam it was more than that, it was accepting his fate in continuing the Garrison’s lie and until it was pronounced otherwise he would need to keep wearing it until who knows when, maybe until the lie was a reality.

He looked at Colleen and saw in her neck the collar already in place, she was startled as his attention was suddenly on her but she saw what he was watching, she only lowered her eyes sadly, she had already accepted her fate but still held the same reservations as him.

Adam closed his eyes, let his shoulders drop and sighed before he finally picked the collar from Keith’s hand and quickly put in on.

“Let’s get this over with” Adam said and left his room, Katie had stayed outside since Adam was changing clothes but she also had in her hands something that Adam hated, she approached him and began wrapping a black ribbon on his arm, since Adam was in uniform he needed it to symbolize mourning, Colleen and Katie were dressed in black since they weren’t formally part of the Garrison but as for Curtis, Keith and him, they were wearing their uniform with the due ribbon in their arms.

-

Sanda was speaking, they were all sitting on the front row watching the pictures of the crew with flowers adorning their frames, the press invited was very little and they were at the far back on the last row of chairs, none were allowed closer and they were forbidden to try to get an interview with any of the families, while most understood privacy, some did pressed for at least a statement from Adam.

After all, three dead astronauts didn’t make a headline, a dead astronaut that left a pregnant mate, now that was a headline, fortunately those weren’t invited and only sensible media was around and even Curtis had made sure to sit by his side, Keith on the other, no one was getting close to Adam, at best any pictures would just have the back of his head.

As per agreed the ceremony was short and the families were now ready to leave, Adam could hear the officers making sure none of the press came close but he could feel their stares and their cameras pointing at him, zooming in with their lenses, after all, he could no longer hide his condition, even if it was a slight bump it was still noticeable, it was a short way to being back inside so it wasn’t too bothersome.

Curtis approached Keith “Hey Keith, I’m taking Katie back to the lab, she’s just changing clothes, you know Colleen is also expected there so could you take Adam back?”

“Of course, I’ll make sure he’s alright before I leave or even stay,” Keith answered.

“Tell me if you do and I’ll send a message to your teachers,” Curtis said.

Both looked to were steps were coming and found that Katie had already changed clothes, one none of them had seen on her before.

“This were Matt’s clothes from when he was my age, I just-” She couldn’t seem to be able to finish her sentence.

“You’re just bluffing,” Keith said “Those are probably Matt’s 10 year old clothes,” he teased.

Katie growled at him “Alright he was probably younger than I am now but it’s still close!”

Keith’s smirk and Katie’s annoyed face came to an end when Colleen and Adam approached.

“You ready to go?” She told Katie and she nodded.

“I’m taking you home,” Keith told Adam.

“Don’t you have classes?” Adam questioned.

“Not until later and I’ll stay if I have to” Keith determinately said.

“I’ll probably just sleep, so please head to class after you drop me off,” Adam said, all waved at each other before they all took their paths.

When they arrived Keith saw the way Adam quickly removed the collar and threw it aside in disdain, not even stopping for a moment on his way to his nest and removing his uniform until all he had were his underpants and shirt, he followed Adam and he saw him already cuddled in, he made a move to leave when Adam's voice stopped him.

“I’m sorry,” He said from his nest.

“For what?” Keith asked confused.

“For... being like this I guess, worrying you, I don’t even know why, he’s not really dead but I dread every second of the day that it will be his last, that I will feel the pain of the bond breaking, I was supposed to be ready for his death since his diagnosis, I thought I could handle his loss if I knew it beforehand” He chuckled “I was wrong”

“You’ll never be ready” Keith said and Adam peeked from his blanket “You can’t get ready to lose someone you love, even if you do the pain will be the same, I think it’s best to take it day by day, appreciate that he’s still alive, that you can feel him, we’ll handle it when the time comes but meanwhile, don’t punish yourself by already mourning him”

Keith was startled at the look Adam was giving him, it was as if he was looking at Keith, really looking at him for the first time, his eyes went soft and his hand went to the soft skin of his bite and gently caressed it

“Yes I can feel him, he’s there” Adam gently said before he looked back at him “Thank you Keith”

“Anytime” Keith said with a smile


	11. Classes, classes and more classes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some happiness for a change  
> Adam is a student now  
> Poor Curtis may be involved  
> He doesn't mind

“Well, everything seems in shape, how are you feeling?” Juliana, Adam’s OB, asked him.

“Better, sometimes not so good, I cried for an hour when I couldn’t find my picture with Takashi, Keith had to dug it out from the boxes and Curtis had to come over to hug me,” He said.

“It’s reassuring you have such excellent alphas looking out for you,”

“I feel I exasperate them sometimes but yeah, they do help me a lot,”

“What about your bracelet? Any discomfort?” Juliana pointed at his wrist.

“It’s comfortable but I do feel like Takashi,”

“We need to keep a constant check on your vitals, once this little one comes out you’ll be able to take it off, just three more months,”

“That will feel like and eternity,”

“It will be worth it,”

“I know, I never doubted that,” He rubbed his belly “Even before the-, Even before I knew I wanted this but now I want it more than ever, this is all I have of my Takashi, I can’t lose it,”

“And we’ll make sure you won’t,”

Adam smiled at his doctor.

“Well, that is all from my part with you, I’ll start the prenatal classes in an hour so maybe you can stay, in the meantime there’s a yoga class that’ll soon start but it’s a couple’s class” Juliana said.

“It’s alright, how hard can it be to find a clueless partner that will make me look good?”

-

“Are you sure this is ok?” Curtis said to Adam, they were back to back and Curtis could feel the stares, this was a couple’s yoga and while it didn’t forcefully needed to be a couple to take part, the sight of a pregnant omega with a mourning collar still made some people take a peek at them.

“Of course, I’m not flexible at all and if I have to suffer all of this then so will you” Adam, thankfully, didn’t seem to notice, that or he was used to the nosy people staring, Curtis didn’t know which one was worse.

“You don’t have to stretch too much, you know?” Curtis leaned forward so Adam could lean back “Just what you’re comfortable with,”

After a few of those stretches the teacher instructed them to change positions, they were now facing each other with their legs extended and only their feet touching, well their feet weren’t exactly touching, Curtis had a near perfect spilt while Adam’s feet barely reached Curtis’s ankles.

“Wow, you really weren’t kidding when you said you were not flexible” Curtis said while he was gently pulling Adam towards him.

“Shut up!” Adam reproached him, the couples gave wierd looks at them, after all they were happy loving couples and here was Adam groaning at almost every move with a worried looking Curtis.

“Why are you good at this?! You’re supposed to suck and make me look good!” Adam complained.

“I do yoga, Adam, I sure hope it helped and you’re already big-ack!”

Adam gave a quick tug at Curtis’s nose.

“That is for calling me big and since when you do yoga?”

“Since our cadet days when I was sharing with Shiro! He would sometimes go to your dorm when I did,”

“Oh yeah, he said he didn’t want to interrupt your you time and he didn’t like the music and all the incense,”

“He didn’t care, he sometimes practiced it with me, you know it was an excuse to see you because he was too embarrassed to say that,”

Adam felt his cheeks heat up, he remembered Shiro knocking on his door and spending time with him but he never questioned Takashi’s excuses, in retrospective, some should’ve made him suspicious but at the time Adam was also realizing his feelings for his best friend so he never focused on why Takashi was there, just that he was, his thoughts came to a halt when something dawned to him “Wait, so it was Yoga?!”

“Yeah, what else would it be?” Curtis asked confused.

“Takashi said it was your You time so I thought...”

Curtis was staring at Adam, his face went from confused, to knowing and then utter horror.

“You thought I was masturbating with calm music and incense?!” Curtis nearly shouted and they got shushed by the teacher and even some of the couples.

“I roomed with Matt ok? I saw wierd things everyday, at that point that was nothing!”

“Oh I can’t believe this!”

“So he really just wanted to see me?” Adam dreamily said.

“Oh nice, I find out you thought I masturbated with calm music and incense making Shiro leave the room but sure let’s focus on how he had a crush on you even if you’re mated and literally carrying his child!” Curtis said exasperated.

“We really came a long way, didn’t we?” Adam said with his head still in the clouds.

“I can’t with you,” Curtis sighed.

-

Class was finally over and despite Adam’s early misgivings, he had fun and felt relaxed and well-stretched.

“I’ll go leave our mat,” Curtis told him and carried on, Adam saw him go and noticed all the couples gathered and excitedly talking together, Adam felt his sadness come back, he wished Takashi were here, so he could hold him and maybe they too would be a couple chatting about babies and stuff.

“It’s hard at first but it gets better,” Adam heard a voice behind him, he turned and saw a female smiling at him “I know it seems far away but don’t give up, you’ll see things turn up alright,” She said and kept walking, she laced arms with another female and after a sweet kiss they carried on their way leaving a quizzical looking Adam, he gasped when he finally understood.

She had a bond bite, except hers was a dark brown scar and her partner didn’t have a mark at all, that only meant one thing, her mate had died, he felt sad for her but then perked up, he shouldn’t, it was clear she found love again and was even pregnant, he smiled at her compassion but couldn’t help but feel undeserving of her kindness, after all, behind his mourning collar, his mark was as pink and soft as ever, he hadn’t suffered the loss of his mate like she had, he was just pretending, his Takashi was alive and his mark just proved it, that is why he and Colleen had to wear their collars at all times, to hide their still pink bond bites.

“You alright?” Curtis gently asked for his attention.

“Yeah, I’m alright” Adam’s cheerfullness came back “And don’t think this is over, there’s still a prenatal class to attend!”

-

“I’m so glad I’m having a c-section,” A pale looking Adam said.

“I respect omegas that give birth naturally so much now!” A wide-eyed Curtis said.

“Hey but you did good, when you become a parent I know your partner will be well cared for,” Adam nudged him a little.

“Thank you, I thought I was doomed when I put the diaper upside down,”

“At least you didn’t yell when the baby toy began fake peeing” Adam said and they both laughed at the memory of the poor alpha that did.

“Since we’re already out, how about we go shopping? Find new things for your new house and I know you’d like to buy more baby things,” Curtis said.

“No thanks, I’m tired,”

“The feet massage they taught us didn’t help?”

“It did, you were wonderful but I’ve been outside for a couple of hours already and I just want to curl up in my nest and sleep,”

“Your wish is my command, I’ll help Keith packing what’s left,”

“You know you should let Keith carry some stuff too, I can see he’s jealous you carry all the heavy stuff”

“Only some stuff, I don’t want him to break his back!”

They finally reached Adam’s soon-to-be ex-home and he immediately went to his nest and fell asleep, Curtis meanwhile began packing and soon heard the door open and Keith came in.

“Oh I’m glad you’re back, help me get some of these boxes to the other house and I think we should also take some pillows from Adam’s nest so his scent is already put on the new nest and he’ll feel more comfortable” Curtis said to Keith.

“Are you really taking pillows from his nest? He’ll bite your hand off” Keith asked amused.

“Oh there are ways and you’re perfect for it,”

“Oh no! I have a smaller arm but there is no way I’m risking it!”

“It’s not that at all,” Curtis said and brought a brand new soft pillow “Just stay still,”

“Wha-?” Keith could barely ask before Curtis began rubbing the pillow all over him

“Curt-! Sto-!” Keith flailed his arms to no use.

“Perfect! I think that is enough,” Curtis happily said to a wobbly Keith.

“Now it has your scent, a.k.a. family scent for Adam, he won’t even notice I took one, now we need five more!” Curtis said and brought another one.

“I’ll do it!” Keith snatched the new pillow from Curtis before he started rubbing again.

“Why didn’t you do it?” Keith asked.

“Oh, nests are an omega’s safe place so only their mates and kids are allowed, I know Adam trusts me but still the only alpha he’ll want in there is Shiro, you are like a son to him so you’re family” Curtis explained, Keith was stunned at his explanation and it had yet to be seen if Adam really thought that way.

“I’ll go change the pillows” Keith determinately said and grabbed his scent smelling pillows and the bag for the other ones, he silently approached Adam’s nest and located a few, he slowly but surely began exchanging the pillows and so far Adam hadn’t even moved, he just needed one more, he saw one but while it was close to the edge, it was also close to Adam’s face, Keith never backed down from a challenge.

He ever so slowly grabbed the pillow and pulled it out and then slowly began pushing in the new one, he flinched when Adam moved and with his hand on the pillow, he was sure Adam will misunderstand and he’ll get bitten for taking one of his pillows but Adam didn’t wake, he just stirred and reached for the pillow Keith was leaving, he quick as lighting let go of it and saw as Adam grabbed the new pillow and cuddled it to his chest.

Keith smiled at the sight, proud he was doing as he promised and Adam was nice and safe, with that in mind, he left the room with his mission completed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As both are alphas, Curtis and Shiro were roomates as cadets but still Curtis is a year older, they just didn't have another of the same year for Shiro to share with  
> Matt didn't do wierd masturbation things in case anyone was wondering, it was just wierd Matt things but still Adam was no longer surprised of anything anymore  
> Curtis will make a great husband and dad, I know it  
> Keef is confirmed to be baby for Adam, nothing new really
> 
> If you got any questions feel free to ask!


	12. SomePains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam's bond tells him something is not right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo we Back To Pain!  
> Angst!!

“Ready to go?” Curtis said with Keith by his side also ready

“Yeah, maybe this time Keith will finally pick what red he wants for his room,” Adam said with a smirk.

“Hey! It has to be perfect!” Keith reproached.

“Colleen and Katie will catch up on the mall,” Curtis said while he ushered them out.

“Oh, they are stepping out of the lab?” Adam said.

“Just for you,”

“I do feel honored,”

-

“Oh, I should’ve started diper buying a long time ago,” Adam complained.

“Keith and I did, there is a whole closet were we’ve been stashing diapers,” Curtis said by his side while he saw the bottles.

“Oh, then thank you and were is your partner in crime?”

“He’s already looking for his perfect red,”

“Does he still want a lava lamp?”

“Yes, and red as well, he also wants a target?”

“Oh no! He is not throwing knives in the house!”

“How about some darts?”

“That could work,”

Hurried steps and huffing was heard when Keith went barreling into Curtis and nearly toppling him over as he put more stuff on their shopping cart.

“Keith, are these leather baby pants?” Adam asked.

”Yeah, I also found this striped red and black shirt” Keith huffed out his reply.

“And some black shoes,” Curtis said while holding the shoes Keith had just put in.

“Black fits everything and look, I also got this red pacifier, they said they didn’t have a darker color but this is fine as well,” Keith also placed it in the cart.

Adam and Curtis just stared at all the red and black items.

“We’ll keep them in mind but I think this is all too…” Curtis gently tried.

“I won’t have a My Chemical Romance baby, we need some yellows and maybe greens,” Adam straight out said.

“Fine! But the racer pijama stays!”

They carried throughout the rest of the shops, they even got a few things Curtis was looking for and more decorations for their new home.

Adam already had baby clothes thanks to Colleen but he was still drawn to see them, Keith had said he would find him that lion onesie he saw online and there were all kinds of cute clothes, he knew babies went through clothes at lightspeed with their growth but if he wanted a duck hooded towel for his baby then he will damn get that duck hooded towel, he also got a hippo one and yes they had Keith’s size, Adam couldn’t wait to have them match, he continued to watch the clothes when low pain surged from his abdomen but it wasn’t his pain, it was Shiro’s.

Adam cradled his belly and worry began to cloud his head, Curtis was hovering over him, he took Adam and held him close against him.

“Adam! Is everything alright?”

Adam yelped and clutched Curtis when he felt another pain, this time on the ribs, it wasn’t painful for him but he knew something painful was happening to Shiro, his breath became labored and people were starting to watch them.

Keith came over with a bag in one hand, his phone in the other and a worried face when he saw Adam was clinging to Curtis.

“What happened?!” Keith asked.

“Takashi! He’s hurt!” Adam frightfully said.

“Adam felt Shiro’s pain, we need to take him to his doctor,” Curtis explained Keith and then turned to Adam “Is he still in pain?”

“No, it felt like just a hit but Curtis, it was in the abdomen and you know how painful rib hits are, enough for it to pass through the bond,”

“Are you in pain?” Curtis asked.

“No but Takashi is!”

“We need to take you with Juliana, can you walk or you rather I carry you?”

“No, I can walk,” Adam was still agitated but he knew a store wasn’t the best place, he was able to get out of the shop just by leaning on Curtis and Keith but he couldn’t once in the parking lot, Curtis had to carry him to their car.

-

Juliana was already waiting for them on Adam’s usual hospital room, she was quick to check all his vitals and something to calm him, Adam was giving deep breaths when he heard Juliana call for something to her intern, something he knew what it was for.

“I don’t want that,” Adam said, Juliana looked surprised and confused, “It lowers the feeling of the bond, right?”

“Yes, you are in an agitated state because of what you felt, we need you to stay calm so it won’t affect you and feeling Shiro will only just worry you,” Juliana explained

“But I won’t, I only felt it once and you’ve already given me something to calm down, all I need to do is stay like this,”

“But what if you feel something again and your vitals spike again? We can’t risk it,”

“Then I’ll try to stay as calm as posible, please I don’t want that,” Adam said and Juliana sighed in defeat.

“It’s not that simple and it’s against my profesional advice but I can’t force any treatment to you, still as your doctor I need you to understand how important this is,”

“I know but I’ll be fine,” Adam stubbornly answered.

\- The next day -

Keith was busy making breakfast for himself, Adam was nowhere to be seen but with his growing belly he wasn’t inclined to walking much and got tired quickly, he took his phone when it made a low beep, it was Adam’s vitals, there were average and non-threatening but his heart beat increased just a little, he went to Adam’s room and gave the door a low knock.

“Come in,” Adam’s said from inside.

Keith went in and Adam was in his nest like usual but he was doing breathing exercises, he was trying to calm down.

“Are you alright? Want something to eat?” Keith asked him.

Adam smiled “No Keith, thank you,” 

Silence took over the room as Keith hadn’t left, he knew something was up and Adam knew that, he finally relented.

“It was his leg this time” Adam said and Keith ran closer where he saw Adam had a hand on his tight “It felt like a quick cut, a slash, it didn’t feel too deep but it was painful enough to pass,”

“You want me to bring Juliana?” 

“No, I just need to relax, maybe a calming tea? I know Curtis brought some,”

“Sure, I’ll make it for you,” Keith said but kept staring at Adam’s curled up form, he wanted to say something else but didn’t and went to make Adam’s tea.

Once outside he looked out into the sky, now his worry was on Shiro, what was happening? Why was he hurt? He felt so useless, knowing something was hurting Shiro and in turn also hurt Adam, he could only hope it wouldn’t be a recurrent thing.

-

It happened each day, Adam would stay still when he felt Shiro’s pain, they tracked Adam’s pain to always happen every 30 to 40 hours, their faces grew somber when they realized it seemed to be a schedulded thing, that they were hurting Shiro on a daily basis. Adam tried his best but it still his vitals would always spike but never dangerously enough, making Adam still refuse to lower the feel of his bond even to Juliana insistance.

“Why you don’t want to?” Keith asked one evening.

“I know it sounds stupid but I feel like I’m abandoning him, giving my back to his pain like it’s nothing, this bond is all I have of him, my only direct connection, to let go of it would be to let go of him,”

“But your bond isn’t all that is conecting you to him, you still have a bite to your neck and a child, his child!” Keith exasperatedly said

“You think I’m being too selfish for trying to keep both?” Adam quietly said.

“No I don’t but I do think you’re risking too much and I know Shiro would tell you to listen to Juliana”

“I know it too”


	13. Our bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Major events will force Adam once and for all to take hard desicions  
> Angst, this is mostly all angst

Adam laid still, the feelings washing over him as he felt yet another hit to his Takashi, in any moment Keith would come in and try to help as much he could even if his eyes told him he wished Adam would just take the medication.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Adam kept reassuring Keith and himself “How about some lunch?”

“You think you can stomach it?” Keith cautiously asked, Adam looked pensive, one time he was eating when a pain hit, that took Adam’s apetite entirely and he had barely eaten a spoonful of soup.

“I think I could,” Adam said unsure.

“Curtis is coming over after his shift,” 

“Tell him to bring me something sweet,” Adam said and tried to stand from his nest but at seven months it was a bit difficult, Keith was already used to helping Adam stand.

“Bathroom,” Adam said, yes he also was peeing all the time, everyday was hard for the small family yet Adam tried his best to keep their spirits up.

“Agh!” Adam’s left hand gripped his right wrist.

Keith was immediately at his side.

“I- I’ve felt this before” Adam said, eyes filled with fear.

“I’ll call Curtis, we need to take you to Juliana” Keith sat Adam on a chair and texted Curtis.

“What are you feeling?” Keith worriedly asked, he’d never seen Adam so afraid and he wanted to know what was happening to Shiro.

“His arm, without his bracelet it cramps, he’ll be vulnera-AGH!” Adam flicked his hand to the bridge of his nose “They are hurting him! And he can’t use his hand! Takashi!” Adam was getting worse.

“Adam you need to calm down!” Keith’s voice was also desperate.

There was a knock on the door and Keith ran as fast as he could to it, it was Curtis, he waited no time and carried Adam to Juliana, as expected she was waiting for them.

“Don’t take away my bond” Adam cried.

“Adam please!” Juliana tried but Adam just shook his head.

“I’ll calm down” Adam said as tears kept running down his cheeks “I’ll be alright, I don’t want to lose Takashi, I need to be there for him,”

Juliana had no other choice but to put Adam to sleep while carefully checking the baby, afterwards Juliana went to Curtis and Keith.

“He needs to stay, this episode was too strong, I don’t think he’ll be able to handle another,” She told them.

“Why can’t you just give him the medicine? He’s asleep now,” Keith harshly said.

“I can’t force a patient to receive a treatment, he’s already made it clear he doesn’t want it but the more he tries the more it’s likely he won’t make it to the end and the sooner the baby comes the more long term problems it could have, he’s barely 30 weeks it’s much too early, I can’t even guarantee it's survival,”

“I’ll try and talk to him” Curtis said, “But he won’t like it”

“This is beyond his own health!” Keith hissed “He is risking the baby’s life and losing it will be too much!”

“We’ll do our best but we should let him rest, hopefully this will change his mind,” She said.

-

Adam woke up slowly, he saw a figure by his bed, it was Keith, frowning.

“I’m sorry” Adam whispered “I must have scared you,”

“I’m worried for you and the baby,”

Adam stayed silent for a moment “Have they taught you about bonding yet? The feel of it,”

“Yeah it’s a survival thing and yada yada, not sure why someone would want to feel your loved one’s pain”

“It’s not just pain, it’s companionship, it’s feeling their presence as if the were just beside you even if they aren’t in your line of sight, it's peaceful and serene, you know every time I sleep I can almost feel him right beside me, embracing me as if he had never left” Adam’s voice wavered “That is what keeps me going,”

Keith sighed “But you are putting the baby, your baby in danger, it depends on you and it’s still too early”

“I’ve been very selfish, I thought I could handle it but…” Adam lay there thinking “I should ace-AH!” Adam gripped his arm but then he looked at the ceiling with a face of pure terror, Keith pushed the button for the doctor and frantically began to try and make Adam react to him.

“Adam!”

“Takashi! Takashi!” Adam wasn’t listening to him

Juliana barged in when Adam finally was looking at them with panic and fear, the monitor was beeping as Juliana checked everything, then Adam yelled out when a pain hit him but this time, it wasn’t Shiro’s, it was his.

“Adam please! Last chance, the medication or I’ll have to prepare for a birth, that was a contraction,”

Everyone looked in shock at Juliana and Adam’s face was pure anguish, tears began to fall down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry…”

Keith was about to yell.

“…I’m sorry Takashi” Adam cried as he have his arm to Juliana, she wasted no time before she plucked in an IV and called for a nurse to help her.

“Keith, Curtis, we need space!” She pushed them out and they hurried to do so, not wanting to get in the way but constantly looking back at Adam, soon the doors were closed to them.

-

Keith paced up and down the waiting room, Curtis was sitting dead still with a worried frown, after a few hours finally Juliana came out.

“Today it’s not this baby’s birthday” She said and both sighed in relief.

“He’s fine, the baby is safe and he has taken the medication, from now on he won’t be as stressed but he’ll definitely will be in a somber mood so be patient with him, he’ll also have to stay here for a couple of days until he’s stable, he’s still hanging on a very thin rope, we need to make sure the baby will stay,”

“Is he awake? Can I see him?” Keith asked.

“He is and I think you should, he needs some company,” Juliana let Keith through.

“I’ll go later, don’t want to overwhelm him but he also needs company so look after him,” Curtis said and Keith nodded.

He slowly walked into Adam’s room, he was laying on the bed, looking away from him and out the window, he approached slowly.

“I want to cry but I feel I have no strength or tears anymore,” Adam quietly said.

“It will be worth it, the baby is safe, you and I both know is what Shiro would’ve wanted,”

“I know, and believe me I don’t want to lose my baby, that would just kill me,” Adam protectively held his belly.

Keith wanted Adam to rest but he also wanted to know what happened and Adam noticed.

“It was more emotional pain rather than physical, I felt panic, so much panic and fear, confusion and pain, here” Adam pointed to the middle of his arm “It didn’t feel very painful, it was like pulsing, it wasn’t a slash because it lasted until…” Adam frowned in though “I don’t know,”

Sadness took over his face “I really can’t feel him anymore” Hiccups took over his body as he tried to cry.

“You need to focus on the baby, you’re keeping it safe, you still have Shiro right here with you and it needs you,” Keith encouraged him.

“Yes, I’ll keep you safe” Adam hugged his belly protectively but his face went sad again “Can you stay? I don’t want to be alone,”

“Sure! I don’t care if I can’t, I will,” Keith wasted to time and laid beside Adam, he nearly regretted it when Adam crushed him tightly against him but he knew he needed it and he was rewarded shortly after, his back was in contact with Adam’s belly and felt relief wash over his body as he felt little movements from the small developing peanut inside it.

-

After a couple of days Adam was finally cleared, Keith, Curtis and the Holts were there to take him back home.

“Oh, you’re forgetting this” Keith handed over the black collar to Adam, since they were in a private room Adam wasn’t wearing it but the trek back home would be on public areas, Adam sneered at it before he put it.

“How do you handle wearing this all day?” Adam asked Colleen who was also wearing hers, since Adam stayed most days at home he never wore it but Colleen was always in the lab with Pidge and moving around the Garrison so she wore it all the time except at home.

“I hated it as much as you, until I saw it in another light, it’s a promise” She took her hand to her collar “All my work is to find them and this reminds me everyday what I’m fighting for, my family,”

Adam looked away, Colleen was so strong and he was still hung up on a stupid collar, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“That is what keeps me up instead of dragging me down but it doesn’t have to be the collar for you, it can be a little piece of life that keeps you going” She gave a small rub on his belly.

Adam smiled and looked down at it “Yes, I’m sorry I didn’t put my entire attention to you, that I was so divided but now I promise to always put you first,” Adam vowed to his little one. “I just hate the way people look at me, in pity, at home everything reminds me of him and if I go out everyone reminds me of the lie I have to tell and look at me as if I’m fragile and delicate and is all because of this stupid thing,” He pointed at the collar.

A look of enlightenment came to Keith, he had an idea but he needed time before he offered it to Adam.

“You’ll be able to take it off as soon as you get home or maybe I can get you a high collar shirt, it’s a small journey to your home” Curtis offered.

“No, thanks, I want to get home now,”

After Adam was all settled in and the Holts went back to their lab, Keith pulled Curtis’ sleeve.

“I have an idea, we have to get Adam out of here and I know a place but I haven’t been there in a while, it needs a good cleaning and probably some security for a pregnant man, although I think a pregnant woman has already been there” Keith told him, Curtis was intrigued.

“What kind of place? Where?”

“It’s a bit far by car, over an hour but it’s easier by hover bike since the cars can have a rough time with all the dirt and the rocks”

“Keith you want to take Adam out into the desert with a hover bike?!”

“I was thinking you could get a Garrison car, like the one I saw when I met Shiro not just an average blue sedan”

“Maybe, and just maybe, that could work but he’s in a delicate condition, he needs to be able to get access to a med bay if anything happens,”

“Something will happen if he stays here! This place is driving him crazy,”

“I’ll go see this place with you, take a few pictures and talk to Juliana, she’ll know best"

Keith nodded with a smile, he knew he could help Adam and he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like the angst, I'm here to deliver


	14. Moving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's plan is put into action

Keith was tapping his foot and looking at the floor, were was Curtis? They has agreed to go check out the place Keith was telling him, his thoughts were interrupted by a pat on his shoulder, it was Curtis but he didn’t have any car with him.

“Where is the car?”

“I just wanted to make sure this is a good idea,”

“You don’t trust me?” Keith snapped.

“I do! Believe me, I trust you want to take care of them but I’m just unsure this is the best way, I mean an omega looks for a safe place to nest in their last months, I don’t know if moving them is convenient when he’s comfortable already” Curtis said.

“He isn’t! This place is driving him crazy! Ever since he stopped feeling Shiro all he’s done is cry, everything he sees reminds him of Shiro and he doesn’t go out because he has to wear that stupid collar!” Keith loudly said and Curtis hastily hushed him, he didn’t want anyone to hear that last part no matter how practically no one was in sight, he gave a sigh.

“Fine,” Curtis relented.

“It’s no use of it now, we can’t go,”

“Who says we can’t?” The older male pulled out a set of keys.

“I thought you didn’t even ask for one!” Keith surprised said.

“To show you I trust you” He twirled the keys “I was unsure but you make a point, maybe it is for the best,”

“It is!” Keith excitedly went to the Garrison cars.

-

“Do we keep going?”

“Yeah it’s not far now”

Curtis sceptically looked at the dry, hot desert and all the dust around the car, Keith was right, a generic car wouldn’t pull through.

“It’s nearly half an hour if not nearly an hour away from the Garrison,”

“Fourty minutes,” Keith flatly said.

“You need to remember he needs a quick access to a med bay and are you willing to travel 40 minutes just to get to class?”

“Oh, yeah, class” Keith looked everywhere but Curtis, his determination wavering for just a moment but it made Curtis suspicious, he dropped the subject for now as he spotted a shape in the distance, the dist cleared and a small shack was visible.

Both left the car, Keith took a moment to take the sight in, it had been a long time since he came here and memories came back to him, Curtis on the other hand was still sceptical of the whole thing.

“Looks like it needs some attention,” Curtis took a picture, Keith glared at him.

“I know this is probably your childhood home and that you love it but we’re here to see if Adam and the baby can stay,”

“They can” Keith flatly said and went in, there was dust and a few spiderwebs, the place seemed untouched and old.

“Well like expected, it needs some good cleaning, the structure seems good enough and the sand out isn’t coming in but we should still check some of the windows” Curtis pointed out and touched a few of the sand that was inside “We need to check the electrical and plumbing and get a fridge, a small one should do, I think the stove is functional but it’s old and we don’t want any accidents, the rooms seem alright but I do think we should get some new furniture, this place has to be beyond clean if you want Adam to stay here,”

“It will be,”

“We’ll talk this with Juliana before we talk to Adam and we must be fast otherwise the baby will come before we finish this” Curtis took a few more pictures and they left.

-

Juliana wasn’t completely convinced but she could see Adam’s spirits go down each day, now that he couldn’t feel Shiro’s pain his body was no longer in alert and spiked his fight or flight response but the man himself was sad and discouraged, so she agreed and gave them the number to call for the med bay’s hover van since in Adam’s case all he needed was a safe transport, now all that was missing was the agreement of the man himself.

Keith slowly entered Adam’s room.

_I love you_

He recognized the sound, it was the recording Shiro sent to Adam before his disappearance, he hadn’t stopped playing it recently, he heard the usual following hiccup and a sniffle.

“Adam?” He heard a deep breath and shuffling sounds.

“Keith? Come here,” Adam gently answered and Keith opened the curtains to see Adam, his eyes were watery and red rimmed and the smile he tried to give Keith looked tired

“You needed something?” Adam asked, Keith went in the nest and lay down with his back facing Adam, the omega happily pulled him against his chest and kept his arms firmly around Keith in a hug.

“Adam, there is something I’d like to put forward,” Keith began.

“Oh, what is it?”

“You know in my file it said I used to live with my dad before I was sent to The House, the address is of a colleague of my dad so I never really live there,”

“You are full of mysteries, mister,” Adam nuzzled the top of his head.

“We lived in a shack out in the desert, it’s still there, it’s a little old but it’s sturdy and good to live in” Keith felt Adam sight in defeat and the arms around him go lose, he didn’t knew what was happening since he couldn’t see Adam’s face, he didn’t like the idea?

“I understand, a boy your age shouldn’t be bothered with things like this, you should have a happy home, that is all me and Takashi wanted for you but all I’ve been doing is lay here and cry,” Adam’s voice broke at the end.

“Adam no!” Keith took Adam’s arms and tighten them against him.

“If you want to leave then-”

“No!” Keith turned to face Adam and was crushed at seeing him look so broken but this time it was his fault.

“I don’t want to leave you, I want you to come with me, get out of here while we wait for the baby to come,”

Adam’s sad face turned to confusion “You want me to go? Where? And is it safe?”

“I already talked to Curtis and Juliana and we’re all waiting for you to say yes, the shack needs some cleaning and arrangements but me and Curtis will have it this weekend,”

Adam looked unsure but Keith wasn’t going to give up.

“This place is driving you crazy! You need to go away from here!”

Adam pondered it with a troubled look “But it would only be temporary, right?”

Something flashed on Keith’s eyes before he sighed “Yes, just until the baby is born and if you want to rest for the next three months,”

“Well, if Juliana is alright with it then yes, I think it would be nice,”

“Yes! You won’t regret it! I promise,”

“I know I won’t, I trust you,” Adam tenderly said “You think you could stay? Only until I fall asleep,”

“I’ll stay here all the time you need,” Keith cuddled closer and let Adam cuddle him.

-

Adam woke up from a nap, as usual the place was quiet but soon a frown became visible on Adam’s brow, it was the weekend, Keith should be home, he was usually getting cereal, cleaning up a little or just tinkering around the house, a tiny piece of doubt and fear lurked on Adam’s heart but he pushed it away.

“Keith?” He called out, no one answered, the little thing on his chest grew “Keith?” He said louder and again he didn’t hear anything back.

“Keith!” He looked around their home and his room but nothing, his breath became labored and he walked as fast as he could to his cellphone, Keith had a phone but he rarely used it since he didn’t call anyone and since he came straight home Adam and Shiro rarely called him, Adam needed something more secure, someone more likely to have and answer the phone, he quickly dialed him.

“Yes?” A tired sounding Curtis answered.

“Curt! Keith is not at home, have you seen him?” Adam tried his best to hide his desperate voice.

“Oh you mean your demon child? Honestly Adam, I don’t know why you want another,”

“Curt” Adam sternly said.

“He’s fine, he’s with me in the shack, we’re cleaning remember? Making it a nice place for you and the baby,”

Adam sighed in relief “Oh thank goodness,” Once that covered he felt at ease and relaxed “How can you say that when he’s been so sweet?”

“He woke me up at six a.m. on a Saturday, Adam, he was already out my door and I could only get a bagel before he nearly pushed me out and I can’t exactly order take out here,”

“I’ll bring you some food,”

“No! This is a war zone and exactly the place we don’t want a pregnant man to be at, it’s ok, Colleen is already bringing us some food, she is a mother, you know? She’ll probably bring extra servings just for Keith,”

“Well she does always say we need to feed him more and how about I invite you to dinner once you both come back? Tell me what you want to eat and I’ll make it”

“You sure? I really don’t want to force a pregnant man cook,”

“It can be something easy and it can help me make something, I have been too much time in my nest, I need to go out and clear my head a little, I like cooking so it will help,”

“Fine, let me think of something and I’ll text you, oh and Adam, please don’t forget your collar,”

Adam’s mood went sour and sighed.

“Yes I know you hate it but please and be careful too, if you ask Colleen to go with you it will put us at ease,”

“Alright I’ll give her a call,”

\- Tuesday -

Keith wasn’t paying attention to his class, he kept making mental checks if they had covered everything, that all was in place and ready to receive Adam, coincidently, this class was Adam’s until he got his maternity leave.

Everything was in place and cleaned up, Curtis used Adam’s old nest from his earlier home to placed it on the shack, he had offered to help him but both Adam and Curtis has told him to go to class, after all that wasn’t much time-consuming, Adam should be able to move if not today, tomorrow.

Class was over and Keith was ready to go when he saw a shadow on his desk, he looked up and there was his classmate, Hunk if he remembered correctly, to his right was his friend, Taylor was it? Or was it a nickname? He couldn’t remember his name and on the other side was James, both had a frown, if they didn’t like him so much why where they here?

Hunk spoke first “Hey Keith! We heard that professor Adam is moving so all of us joined in and we got him a gift!” He extended a wrapped packaged box to Keith, he warily watched it.

“Hey, we all pitched in, the least you could do is give it to him” Taylor snapped at him.

“If you don’t trust me then why give it to me?” Keith snapped back.

Hunk got between the two “We don’t want to disturb him and we do trust you,” He moved the box closer with a smile, Keith wasn’t exactly happy but he took it.

“It’s a three-month old clothing, when he opens it and sees it, tell him we'd like to see the baby in those when he gets back,” James instructed.

“Why are you ordering him around?” Keith glared at James and he glared back.

Hunk, again, did his best to get between the two “We are not ordering him, it’s just like a promise, that we’ll be waiting and excited to see him back”

Keith looked away and something flashed on his eyes, James was suspicious but said nothing.

“I’ll tell him but it’s up to him” He packaged the box and hastily left, once home he saw the package, a part of him didn’t want to give this to Adam but he knew it wouldn’t be fair, his classmates loved Adam and he needed cheering up, but that promise, to come back…

“- Keith” He snapped out of it and Adam was walking towards him with a smile “Come on, you can tell me, I promise I won’t tease,”

Keith looked at the gift and then blushed at what Adam implied, he gave an awkward cough “It’s not for me is for you,”

He extended the gift and saw as Adam’s eyes lit up, he took it and read the card in it and his eyes went soft, he carefully unwrapped the gift and gasped once he saw it, Keith took a peek and saw a baby’s bee outfit.

“They told me to tell you it’s a three-month old baby clothing” He stayed quiet before he sighed “They’d like to see the baby wear it, when you come back,”

“That is so thoughtful of them!” Adam inspected the gift, I bet James was the one who orchestrated all of this,”

“He does look like it, but more importantly, are you ready to leave?”

Adam carefully placed the gift in one of his drawers and looked at Keith “Yes, I am,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you wonder if Adam and baby will go to space, I can only tell you that no  
> The story will stay on Adam and baby on Earth so no space baby, sorry  
> Maybe another time XD
> 
> (If I'm honest this feels a bit like filler but I love them just interacting sometimes so like, we get back to a more plot heavy on the next chap, I promise)


End file.
